RUGBY NEWS - The second round of the Currie Cup was one where the champion Free State Cheetahs continued to build their early season buffer and the Golden Lions advertised the impressive depth boasted by the Johannesburg union.
After their unexpected defeat to the Pumas in Nelspruit the week before, the Lions were under pressure when they faced Griquas as a curtain-raiser to Saturday’s big Vodacom Super Rugby semifinal at Emirates Airlines Park.
Remember that with a whole team of players away on Super Rugby duty, it was effectively a Lions second string side, and Griquas did well in the recent SuperSport Challenge.
So there was reason for Lions fans to fear the worst, but until the final quarter, when they allowed their opponents to come back and grab some respectability with late scores, the 2015 champions were always comfortably ahead as they made up for last week’s shock reverse.
The Cheetahs beat an under strength Sharks team in Bloemfontein last week and on Sunday they accounted for a stronger Western Province side that was a hybrid between that union’s SuperSport Challenge team and what the Currie Cup combination will look like later in the competition.
Skipper Chris van Zyl should be happy with the way his men acquitted themselves in Bloemfontein, as the Free Staters, unbeaten at home in the competition since 2015, would have started as clear favourites. They boast the continuity of being pretty much the team that represented the Cheetahs in Super Rugby.
However, Van Zyl will be unhappy that his men dominated possession and yet were unable to make enough of it. The final scoreline of 30-17 flattered the Cheetahs as WP did enjoy much of the game. What should have been pleasing though to the Cheetahs was noting what won them the match – defence has long been a problem for the Cheetahs but that no longer appears to be the case.
It was their linespeed that put their opponents off their attacking game on Sunday, something that they appeared to start working on during their tour of New Zealand in Super Rugby. They still produced defensive errors towards the end of that competition, but there was a noticeable improvement, and against Province that aspect of their game was nothing short of outstanding. It demonstrated that South African rugby people are starting to take note of the lessons picked up from competition with overseas teams and that is no bad thing for local rugby.
The WP defence wasn’t as good as the Cheetahs and they let in some soft tries but coach John Dobson probably won’t be too concerned about it as it was the first time his team played together so there were always going to be teething problems on defence.
