Calm performance helped Cheetahs seal Currie Cup win over Pumas

A calm performance from the Cheetahs in the closing minutes of the Currie Cup final against the Pumas at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday evening helped them claim a 25-17 win to lift the title.

Coach Hawies Fourie admitted that some experienced heads on the field made sure that it wouldn’t be a repeat of last year’s semi-final against the same opponents, when they let a two score lead slip over the final 10 minutes to lose the match.

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“We are lucky to have some really good leaders on the field. In the final 10 minutes we had guys like Jeandre Rudolph and Robert Ebersohn (subs) with Victor (Sekekete) and Ruan (Pienaar). So they made good decisions and kept the guys calm,” explained Fourie.

“It was also something important to us. Last year we made some mistakes in the last 10 or 12 minutes and we lost the semi-final. But this year we kept our nerve and executed what we wanted to do well in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Fourie also applauded a massive crowd that turned up to cheer their team onto victory on the night, with over 35000 people in attendance.

“It was really special. When the people of Bloem get behind you they really support you. We are thankful for their support and glad that we could pay them back,” said Fourie.

Relentless pressure

Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse claimed it was the relentless pressure from a fired up Cheetahs defence that didn’t allow his side to gain any momentum, and that along with their poor discipline cost them the match.

“Well done to the Cheetahs. They put us under pressure with their defence and their exits, so we couldn’t get there (into their territory). As soon as we got there, then there was a penalty. So we couldn’t get the continuity and go forward (that they wanted),” said Stonehouse.

“I am not sure what the penalty count was but that killed us. Our discipline wasn’t good enough on the day. But the rest of our play was good.

“We tried to get back into the game but we couldn’t convert into points. If we maybe got those three points (late penalty) from Tinus (de Beer) it could have motivated us to go forward. But all credit to them, they put us under a lot of pressure and it was a well-deserved win for them.”