Cape Town — The Cheetahs came back from being 14 points down to beat Western Province 28-21 at Cape Town Stadium Cape on Friday to stretch their Currie Cup winning streak.
The second-on-the-log Cheetahs are unbeaten in the competition with a game in hand, while Province’s woes continued. They have won just one in seven games.
The Cheetahs were first on the scoreboard after they scored a try in the 15th minute (0-7), and after passing up two shots at goal in the Cheetahs’ 22, Western Province got on the scoreboard shortly after the Cheetahs’ touchdown with three points via flyhalf Tim Swiel’s boot (3-7).
While the Bloemfontein side went one man down after Alulutho Tshakweni was yellow carded after repeated infringements by the visiting team, Province failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage with more than three points. Swiel did, however, bring the Cape outfit within a single point of the Cheetahs with another penalty conversion (6-7).
Tristan Leyds worked some magic as he cut through the Cheetahs defence to grab a try for Jerome Paarwater’s team, and Swiel made it three out of three as he added the extras (13-7).
The home side got one more penalty before the break to take the score to 16-7 at half time.
Province made a great start to the second 40 with a stunning team try after Leyds kicked the ball ahead for Sergeal Petersen to gather before putting in a top offload to Angelo Davids to finish and run in the try (21-7), but after that the Cheetahs opened things up and did well to come back from their half time deficit.
In a tense last 30 minutes, the Cheetahs scored two quick tries through Louis van der Westhuizen and David Brits to level the score ar 21-21 after 50 minutes.
Van der Westhuizen sealed the deal for he visitors when he went over from a rolling maul with 10 minutes to go. And while WP did have their opportunities in the final quarter, the Cheetahs did enough to stretch their streak.
Province next face the Pumas away on Friday, May 13
IOL Sport