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Cheetahs beat spirited Kings in derby thriller
By Peter Thompson
The in-form Cheetahs withstood a barnstorming late rally from Southern Kings to beat their South African rivals 40-36 in a Pro14 thriller.
Franco Smith's side looked to be coasting to a fourth successive win when Reinach Venter barged over to for a try that Tian Schoeman converted to put them 40-15 up with only 14 minutes remaining in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The spirited Kings were reduced to 14 men when CJ Velleman was dismissed for making contact with Junior Pokomela's head, but they were not finished yet as Tienie Burger, Alandre van Rooyen and Berton Klaasen crossed in a frantic finale.
They ran out of time to complete what would have been astonishing turnaround, though, and remain bottom of Conference B after a game in which both sides sealed bonus points.
Fly-half Schoeman scored one of six tries for the Cheetahs and was clinical with the boot as their purple patch continued.
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Latest Comments
Think we have to accept we have been on the slide for a while now.Still interesting to see the repeated media pieces about the myth of the ABs slipping-I would say slipped past tense.In part don’t we have to give credit for the improvement of other nations particularly Ireland?Isnt that good for the game?Are we beginning to feel the impact of losing the Boks from Super rugby and maybe soon TRC?I would agree we are also ran right now so will be interesting to see how we progress-assuming we do!Isnt that part of sport though to be in improvement mode?Back to the stats though I think the Boks were under 60% leading into 2019?Now with the focus on the RWC does it matter so much what you are doing between tournaments?You just get through your group(remembering the ABs qualified 2nd in 2023)and then you have 3 matches to win the thing.
Go to commentsThe ABs have more than enough back line guys so don’t see issue there. Just the balance at center and feel time for Rieko to sit out.Forwards- balance still not right. Front row ok but miss Codie. But still ok. Locks- you now need to start s a tall timber at middle of lineout- Darry is the right guy. Then move Sititi to 8, move Ardie to 7 and then move Vaai to blindside. He can become the closest to PSdT . Then have proper bench as this is not a demotion but key to dominating last 30 minutes- Patrick, Ofa etc are golden here. Get the balance right between starters and finishers
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