27 Aug 2017

BDF Cheetahs continued their BRU Super Rugby winning streak with a narrow 8-6 victory
over bottom side UB Rhinos on August 26th.

In an evenly contested match played at Wharic Park, Eddie Ernest bundled in the only try of the match midway through the second half to guide Cheetahs to their second victory in a row after last weekend’s ill-tempered victory over Canon Jaguars.

However, the army side was forced to do it the hard way after Tshoganetso Katse kicked in a penalty in the sixth minute to give Rhinos an early lead.

Although the two teams’ packs cancelled each other with some tight marking around the centre line, Katse extended Rhinos lead to 6-0 midway through the first half with another penalty kick after Cheetahs gave away a foul on the edge of their 22 meter line. The Rhinos captain later missed another penalty which could have extended his team’s lead.

Cheetahs fought back in the early stages of the second half and were awarded a penalty, which Eddie Oosthuizen missed. But after Rhinos gave away another penalty from desperate defending around their try box and Oosthuizen scored to reduce the deficit to 6-3.

Cheetahs continued pressurising their opponents and Ernest took advantage of loose marking after a foul to quickly tap the ball and force in a try, which gave his team the lead, although Oosthuizen missed the resultant conversion.

Cheetahs lead the log standings with 40 points following the victory while  Rhinos remained bottom of the log with 14 points. In the second match of the weekend, Gaborone Hogs maintained their place in second place after beating Canon Jaguars 28-22 in an entertaining match played at Wharic Park on August 26.

Jaguars missed an early penalty and were punished when Hogs took a 7-0 lead in the 15th minute through a try by Molibi Maphanyane and conversion by Letlhogile Tsheko.

However, Jaguars who are renowned for their quick passing style of play, quickly responded with Siamphinga Sindaza’s try three minutes later. They then curved the Hogs off balance and scored another through right winger Tafa Ncube and conversion by Sindaza to take a 12-7 lead in the 24th minute.

Hogs responded with their second try of the match in the 31st minute through Tapiwa Malenga and conversion by Ryan Musumhi, but Sindaza scored a penalty on the stroke of halftime to give Jaguars a 15-14 lead.

Hogs turned the tables in the second half and took a 21-15 lead in the 58th minute through Gape Malesu’s try with Musumhi making a conversion. Malenga scored his second try of the match nine minutes later and Musumhi made a conversion to extend Hogs lead to 28-15. But Adrian Zvarevashe pulled five points back with a try and Sindaza made conversion to reduce Jaguars’ losing margin 28-22. Ends