Sharks (31) 43 / Cheetahs (17) 34 (Final Score)

The Sharks hosted the Free State Cheetahs at Mr Price Kings Park, Durban at 15:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.

The Sharks raced to their 4 try bonus point, took just outside 20 minutes to achieve it, then scored some more and it looked like quite a rout…

… But the Cheetahs were not done yet and clawed their way back with some great tries of their own, eventually losing by only 9 points.

Scorers:

Sharks: 3 Conversions & 4 Penalties Frederic Michalak, 1 Try Mark Richards, 1 Try Louis Ludik, 2 Tries Jacques Botes, 1 Try Sibusiso Sithole

Cheetahs: 2 Penalties & 4 Conversions Sias Ebersohn, 1 Try Riaan Smit, 1 Try Boom Prinsloo, 1 Try WP Nel, 1 Try Corné Uys

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Mark Richards, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain), 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Jan Andre Marais, 19 Francois Kleinhans, 20 Jacobus Reinach, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22 Gouws Prinsloo.

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Riaan Smit, 13 Corné Uys, 12 Andries Strauss (captain), 11 Rayno Benjamin, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Boom Prinsloo, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Johan Wessels, 5 Waltie Vermeulen, 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 PW van Vuuren, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Pieter Myburgh, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Philip Snyman, 22 Philip  Burger.

Referee: Jason Jaftha