‘I could see ghosts’: Cheetahs coach breathes a sigh of relief

Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie admitted he started seeing premonitions of a defeat in Nelspruit on Friday night before his team grinded out a close 35-31 win over the Pumas.

Both teams scored five tries, but when
the Pumas went ahead by 10 points shortly after half-time, Fourie was not optimistic about the result.

“After they scored their first try (through hooker Simon Westraadt) their tails were up and when we went behind 17-7 early in the second half I started to see ghosts and feared the worst,” said Fourie.

“It was a tough old game and the Pumas started really well.”

Once they were behind, Fourie admitted it was tough to claw their way back.

“The Pumas are a team if they have you in trouble in the opening 20 minutes they keep you there,” he said.

“We wanted to start by putting pressure on them, but then we started the worst way possible, and when you concede two quick penalties it adds to the pressure.”

In the second half the Cheetahs came alive after a brace of tries by flank Andisa Ntisila, and they went on to open up a lead.

“Credit to our pack who started to come back in the game but obviously that yellow card (to Pumas eighthman Willie Engelbrecht) helped a little bit,” said Fourie.

Eventually the difference was the kicking boot of Cheetahs flyhalf Frans Steyn, who converted all five of their tries.

While the Pumas scored as many tries, wayward goal-kicking (three from eight) cost them the match.

“We lost the ball too often in contact in the opening half and we were trying funny things,” Fourie said.

“And the conditions were not ideal. The ball was slippery and led to handling mistakes.

“We couldn’t really play the way we are used to playing and we definitely had to grind out the win.”

Fourie would have been relieved, however, with the Cheetahs’ first win of the competition, which put them on 21 points, making their home match against the Sharks next week another important venture.

“Our mauls were good but we told one another at half-time we just needed to be more patient, not try to be fancy and put together more phases,” he said.

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