It came down to the wire in the Toyota Challenge finale but the Western Force have gone down 32-22 to the Cheetahs at Claremont’s Revo Fitness Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Force were on the back foot early with the South African Currie Cup winners opening up a 21-3 lead in the first half.
But the home side rallied with a Harry Potter try prior to half-time, before capitalising on three Cheetahs’ yellow cards in the second half to close within a converted try in the final 10 minutes, following scores from Palmyra revelation Rewita Biddle and hooker Tom Horton.
Experienced Springboks fly-half Ruan Pienaar, however, kicked a decisive penalty in the final few minutes to ensure the Cheetahs closed out the victory, claiming the four-game series 3-1.
Cheetahs number 8 Jeandre Rudolph, who scored the opening try, was named Player of the Match, while hooker Marnus van der Merwe grabbed a brace. Pienaar’s accuracy was influential, going 5/6 for the game.
The Cheetahs’ forward pack caused the Force issues all game, reverting with success to rolling mauls for two of their four tries. There were plenty of positives to take for the Force, cheered on by approximately 1,800 fans at Claremont, who showed grit to stay in the contest and almost pull off a late shock.
The Force had early territory but lineout issues were costly, before the Cheetahs scored with their first touch in Force territory. The try came in the seventh minute as Rudolph burst out of trouble to race clear and score, with Pienaar adding the extras.
Max Burey missed the chance to put the Force on the board with a 22m penalty kick in the 13th minute, before the Cheetahs crossed again in the 19th minute.
The visitors’ try came from a rolling maul, having scored twice via that avenue in Game 3, with Marnus van der Merwe crossing for the third time in the Toyota Challenge to open up a 14-0 lead with Pienaar dead-eye again from a tough angle.
The Force finally got on the board in the 22nd minute with Bayley Kuenzle assuming place-kick duties with good effect.
The Cheetahs’ forward pack again caused the Force issues with an excellent scrum driving them into dangerous territory, before Marnus van der Merwe scored again on the back of another maul.
The Force started building some pressure after the Cheetahs lost Daniel Kasende to a yellow card, with full-back Potter scoring in the corner from a Burey cut-out pass to trail 21-8 at half-time.
Rudolph was held up by the desperate Force defence when over the line in the 52nd minute, but the Cheetahs soon had their fourth try, swiftly turning defence into offence, with Cohen Jasper spreading left to the speedy Tapiwa Mafura who kicked precisely forward and chased it down to score.
The Force kept pushing, scoring from a clever cross-field kick by Burey which found Rewita Biddle on the left edge, with the Cheetahs reduced to 13 men after yellow cards to Marko Janse van Rensburg and Friedle Olivier. Kuenzle converted to make it 26-15.
Given the Force’s numerical advantage, Pienaar padded out the lead with a penalty kick, before Game 3 Player of the Match Horton rolled over to score in a 71st minute maul. With Kuenzle converting for 29-22 and the Cheetahs still two men down, the anticipation built with the Force in the mix.
But Pienaar snuffed out the home crowd’s hopes with a 77th minute penalty opening up a game-winning 10-point lead to round out a tight series.
Force 22
Tries: Potter (33’), Biddle (66’), Horton (71’)
Conversions: Kuenzle 2/3
Penalties: Burey 0/1, Kuenzle 1/1
Cheetahs 32
Tries: Rudolph (7’), M. van der Merwe 2 (19’, 28’), Mafura (55’)
Conversions: Pienaar 3/4
Penalties: Pienaar 2/2
