The Cheetahs beat the Valke 59-17 at the Toyota Stadium in round 7 of the SA Cup, after leading 33-10 at half-time.

Winger Michael Annies scored a hat-trick of tries and was denied a fourth, as the Cheetahs crossed the whitewash no less than nine times. Apart from Annie’s stunning performance, Cohen Jasper also impressed, scoring a brace of tries and converting seven of the nine tries for a personal tally of 24 points.

Cohen Jasper - Morgan Piek.

Replacement hooker,Marko Janse van Vuuren, chipped in with two tries of his own, while winger Prince Nkabinde and captain Chucky van der Westhuizen also dotted down.

The victory saw the Cheetahs retain third place on the log. They still have two matches remaining – against the Border Bulldogs on Saturday and the Suzuki Griquas the following week.

A convincing win over the team from East London will almost certainly secure the Cheetahs' place in the semi-finals and their promotion to the Currie Cup Premier Division. Their biggest threats on the log are the Boland Cavaliers, who face the Pumas next week, while the Griffons still have to tackle the current log-leaders in the final round.

There were moments during the match where the Cheetahs made things unnecessarily difficult for themselves, but the visitors from Kempton Park failed to capitalise. What the Cheetahs did exceptionally well, though, was never show any panic. Even when mistakes were made, they regrouped quickly and kept the pressure firmly on their opponents, rather than falling into a pattern of errors as they had done in the past.

Coach Frans Steyn told OFM Sport that this was arguably his team’s most complete performance of the competition so far. He was especially pleased with how the players are starting to take responsibility on the field.

“I think the first half was actually good – there were some really good tries, "said Steyn.

Prince Nkabinde - Morgan Piek.

“No, I'm happy. If you look at where we were when we started this year and where we are now, I'm very happy. What happened out there today has nothing to do with coaching– it's the players who did well. It’s the players who decided on the defence, they chose to tackle hard, they chose to run hard in attack– so, the players really did well.”

Steyn was also full of praise for Michael Annies, saying the winger’s development since his days with the Junior Springboks has been a pleasure to watch–and that he believes we haven’t yet seen the best of the talented player.

Chucky van der Westhuizen - Morgan Piek.

“Michael is starting to understand what we want from him and what we need of him. He’s a special guy in our team and will continue to be for years to come.”

The Cheetahs' next match in the SA Cup is on Saturday at the Toyota Stadium against the Border Bulldogs, with kick-off scheduled for 15:00.

Scorers:

Cheetahs: Tries - Cohen Jasper 2, Michael Annies 3, Prince Nkabinde, Chucky van der Westhuizen, Marko Janse van Rensburg Conv. - Jasper 7

Valke: Tries - Abulele Ndabambi, Musa Tshabalala Conv. - Sergio Stalmeester 2 Pen. - Stalmeester

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek lh