1
Speight saves Ulster in thrilling Cheetahs draw
By Nicholas McGee
Henry Speight's last-gasp try denied the Cheetahs a first win of the Pro14 campaign as Ulster claimed a thrilling 39-39 draw on Friday.
The two sides shared nine tries - including one penalty try for the Irish side - in a frenetic encounter in Bloemfontein.
Ulster led 32-29 with seven minutes left as Johnny Stewart's score was quickly followed by a penalty try - Charles Marais sin-binned for ill-discipline on the home side's line.
Despite Marais' absence the 14 men of Cheetahs came roaring back, Rabz Maxwane crossing for a try converted by Louis Fouche, whose subsequent long-range penalty looked to have sealed a triumph.
But Speight had the final say as the clock went past 80 minutes, powering over from the back of a maul, Billy Burns converting as the Conference B leaders avoided a first defeat after three successive wins.
Cardiff Blues' disappointing start to the season came to an end as they eased past Munster.
The first three games had seen narrow defeats to Leinster, Benetton Treviso and Zebre for Cardiff but they left no doubt against Munster in a 37-13 win.
They only led 14-13 at the break but scored 23 unanswered points in the second half, Gareth Anscombe kicking 13 of his 17 points after the restart.
In other news:
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Jake White: Ireland, Australia and Wales have the same problem
3
David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
4
Let's be real about these All Blacks
5
Latest Comments
Steve Borthwick appointment was misguided based on two flawed premises.
1. An overblown sense of the quality of the premiership rugby. The gap between the Premiership and Test rugby is enormous
2. England needed an English coach who understood English Rugby and it's traditional strengths.
SB won the premiership and was an England forward and did a great job with the Japanese forwards but neither of those qualify you as a tier 1 test manager.
Maybe Felix Jones and Aled Walter's departures are down to the fact that SB is a details man, which work at club level but at test level you need the manager to manage and let the coaches get on and do what they are employed for.
SB criticism of players is straight out of Eddie Jones playbook but his loyalty to keeping out of form players borne out of his perceived sense of betrayal as a player.
In all it doesn't stack up as the qualities needed to be a modern Test coach /Manager
Go to commentsBut still Australians. Only Australia can help itself seems to be the key message.
Blaming Kiwis is deflecting from the actual problem.
Go to comments