An 87th-minute penalty try gave the Cheetahs a dramatic 29-27 win over the Cardiff Blues in Bloemfontein on Saturday. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.

The hosts led 22-6 at half-time, but the Blues fought back brilliantly to lead 27-22.

With four minutes remaining, the Cheetahs kicked a penalty to touch and set up a lineout driving maul, which was collapsed just before the line. As the referee was playing advantage, a deliberate knock-on from wing Alex Cuthbert saw earn a yellow card.

After four consecutive scrum penalties, the referee finally gave the Blues a warning, and the Cheetahs scrummed again from 5 metres out. Yet another penalty saw replacement prop Brad Thyer sent to the sin bin, but the Blues were at least able to welcome Cuthbert back onto the field.

Another scrum penalty finally resulted in a penalty try (along with an automatic conversion) and the Cheetahs celebrated a crucial win.

The third-placed Free Staters now have an eight-point lead over the fourth-placed Blues in Conference A. The top three teams in each conference qualify for the six-team playoffs, which include two semi-final qualifiers.

Kick-off for this match was pushed out by more than three hours after the Blues only arrived in Bloemfontein on Friday afternoon. Flight delays resulted in a 55-hour journey from the UK to South Africa for Cardiff, who then had to wait until the day of the match to receive their luggage, which contained the team’s kit.

Whether all that traveling affected their performance will no doubt be debated, especially as they were only just unable to hang on for the win.

The Blues started the match well. They had a golden opportunity to score a first-minute try, but Matthew Morgan was unable to collect his kick ahead just before the line. However, William-Small Smith had tackled Garyn Smith without the ball earlier in the move, and Gareth Anscombe slotted the resultant penalty goal.

The Cheetahs stormed into the attack from the restart, with good runs from Uzair Cassiem and Tian Meyer. Cardiff conceded a penalty and Niel Marais leveled the scores.

A big scrum from Cardiff gave them a penalty, which they opted to put into the corner. They attacked again from the lineout and should have scored, but Anscombe’s pass flew over the head of an unmarked Cuthbert and into touch.

It was a costly error, as the Cheetahs got back into Cardiff territory, with Sibhale Maxane scoring in the left-hand corner after quick hands from Francois Venter and Clayton Blommetjies.

The hosts suffered a setback at the end of the first quarter when Clayton Blommetjies was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on on his 22, with Anscombe’s penalty reducing the deficit to two.

But the 14-man Cheetahs were still able to score their second try through Francois Venter after he and Torsten van Jaarsveld sent the ball wide. Marais slotted the conversion and Blommetjies returned to the field soon after.

Cardiff’s problems deepened just before half-time when winger Owen Lane was sin-binned for pushing Maxane just before the tryline when the Cheetahs were on the attack. The hosts opted to scrum in front of the posts, won another penalty and scrummed again. This time a long pass from Meyer put Maxane over for his second. Marais’ conversion made it 22-6 at the break.

Lane made amends for his yellow card to some extent when he scored a 49th-minute try after an 11 phase attack. Replacement Steven Shingler’s conversion reduced the gap to nine.

The Cheetahs thought they had hit back immediately through Venter, but TV replays showed he had placed the ball on a Blues player’s foot on the tryline and then lost control of it.

The Blues then made it a two-point game when Willis Halaholo evaded three Cheetahs defenders in the 59th minute to score a converted try.

The hosts again came agonisingly close to getting their third try as Blommetjies put a foot into touch before diving over in the right-hand corner. And again, Cardiff then scored at the other end, with Rey Lee-Lo’s converted try putting them 27-22 ahead. To add to the intrigue, it then began to pour with rain.

It did ease up, though, as the Cheetahs pushed hard for a match-winning try, which eventually came in dramatic fashion.

Cheetahs – Tries: Sibhale Maxane (2), Francois Venter, penalty try. Conversions: Niel Marais (2). Penalty: Marais.
Cardiff Blues – Tries: Owen Lane, Willis Halaholo, Rey Lee-Lo. Conversions: Steven Shingler (3). Penalties: Gareth Anscombe (2).

Cheetahs – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Sibhale Maxane, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche.
Subs: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Erich de Jager, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 AJ Coertzen.

Cardiff Blues – 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Owen Lane, 10 Gareth Anscombe (c), 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Olly Robinson, 6 Macauley Cook, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Seb Davies, 3 Anton Peikrishvili, 2 Kirby Myhill, 1 Rhys Gill.
Subs: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Brad Thyer, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Rey Lee-Lo.

Photo: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images