The Toyota Cheetahs had to hold off a determined Griffons on Friday to claim a hard-fought 47-45 win in Welkom on Friday in round four of the Currie Cup.

This after racing to a 33-0 lead just before half-time.

Carl Wegner, Carel-Jan Coetzee, Aranos Coetzee, Corné Fourie and Daniel Maartens also scored tries within 34 minutes to hand the Cheetahs a very comfortable lead, however, shortly before the break the Purple People Eaters started fighting back.

The Griffons got on the board two minutes before half-time with a penalty try, while Cohen Jasper was sent to the sin-bin for cynical play.

On the stroke of half-time, the live-wire flanker Thato Mavundla burst over for a second try by the Griffons to see the score at 33-14 at the break.

Two minutes into the second stanza, the flanker Riaan Olivier scored for the home team.

‘Bonus point try started a sequence of scores by the Griffons’

The Cheetahs were then awarded a penalty try before Kyle Cyster dotted down for the bonus point try which started a sequence of scores by the Griffons. Gurswin Wehr also got on the scoreboard and Cyster completed his brace to level the score at 40-40.

The young Cheetahs 8th-man, Neels Volschenk, then scored what would be the winning score for the Cheetahs, but the Griffons weren't quite done yet. Wehr ran in for his brace, but Qamani Kota was unable to land the conversion to level the scores in the 79th minute.

The Cheetahs have a lot to work on in the next week before hosting the Blue Bulls in Bloemfontein on Friday. Their defence out wide is a concern, although they did field to inexperienced wingers. Michael Annies was unlucky for the Cheetahs and there were two instances where he could have scored tries, however, neither was awarded. The first he missed the ball over the try-line, while the second was cancelled after the conversion landed as the TMO deemed there was accidental offside earlier in the move.

While it wasn’t pretty for the Cheetahs, they returned to winning ways with a bonus point and for the time being, moved back to the top of the log.

The positives for the Cheetahs are that Friedle Olivier and Ruben de Haas both made their return from long-term injuries.

Scorers:
Griffons: Tries – Penalty try, Thato Mavundla, Rian Olivier, Kyle Cyster 2, Gurswin Wehr 2
Conv. – Qamani Kota 4
Cheetahs: Tries – Carl Wegner, Carel-Jan Coetzee, Aranos Coetzee, Corné Fourie, Daniel Maartens, Penalty try, Neels Volschenk 
Conv. – Ethan Wentzel 4, Abner van Reenen

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport cg