In the last Super Rugby match of the weekend, the Toyota Cheetahs hosted the Lions in a bottom of the table clash in Bloemfontein.

In what was effectively a make or break game for both sides, it was the visitors from Johannesburg who emerged with the points that they hope will ressurect their Super Rugby season.

The Cheetahs Head Coach Naka Drotske had made a host of changes for this game including a new captain in Andries Strauss, his fourth in four games, as well as including the talismatic Springbok flanker Heinrich Brossouw who last played Super Rugby more than a year ago due to injury.

On the other side of the coin the Lions brain trust made only one change, handing the young New Zealander James Kamana his first start in the competition ahead of Jaco Taute who dropped to the bench.

From the kick off the home side pressed and soon won a scrum in the Lions 22. Against what has become the trend in recent times, the scrum was steady, stayed up, and the ball was put in (relatively) straight.

Immediately the Bloemfontein faithfull were on their feet as Pretorious broke from the base and fed the young pivot Ebersohn who took the ball at speed close to his half back and crossed the try line untouched by human hand.

But, to the referee’s credit, he spotted the obvious forward pass and blew it immdiately, calling the youngster back.

For the Cheetahs this was to be the first of many handling errors that would characterise their evening.

The early minutes of the game saw the men in white with the territorial advantage which was duly converted into points via a penalty when the Lions defenders were adjudged offside in the 7th minute.

Ebersohn slotted the place kick and the home side were on the board.

It was however to be a short lived lead. In the 9th minute, Doppies la Grange, who is experiencing a really good stretch of form, scythed through the Cheetah’s line, made good ground before offloading to Kamana on his inside, who in turn found Mapoe ranging up on his inside who cantered in from 22m to score a well worked try against his former team mates.

Elton Jantjies missed what should have been a relatively easy conversion for the extra points pushing his kick wide of the left hand upright, and would miss a further two kicks from almost identical positions.

A brace of penalties for the home side and one for the visitors followed to see the vistors leading on the half hour mark, when Jantjies fed Kamana on the Cheetahs 22, who in turn fed Whitely. The Lions 8th man quicklygave the ball on to his hooker who made good ground before being tackled by Ashley Johnson, but as he went to ground Maku offloaded to the hardworking flanker Derek Minnie who had cut inside, and the Lions loose forward crossed for the try unopposed.

The conversion was unsuccessfull, but the Lions led 16 – 9.

There followed period of play in centre field where both sides tried to gain the upper hand, but where both defenses held firm and kept the opposition neutralised.

But in the 36th minute the Cheetahs ran the ball from a scrum just inside their own half, in a move involving backs and forward that stretched the Lions defence first to the far touchline, back to midfield, again to the far side and then back to the near touchline.

The defence initially held the attackers at bay but the pressure eventually told when Cheetah’s flank Philip vd Walt brushed aside Mapoe’s attempted tackle, stepped inside and then calmly fed the ball outside to his captain in support who crashed over in the corner despite a brave attempted tackle by Maku.

The ref’ called on the TMO to confirm the try, but there seemed little doubt at full speed that the try was legitimate, a view that was upheld by the official.

The conversion was missed, and the half would conclude with Riaan Viljoen missing a long range penalty attempt.

Halftime score: Toyota Cheetahs 14 – Lions 16.

The second half was to be characterised by the handling of the home sde. Known as a team always willing to give the ball air, and devestatingly dangerous when it comes off, the next 40 minutes of Rugby would be both as frustrating for the home side, as it would be out of character, with numerous handling errors which in the overall context of the game may well have been the difference between losing and winning.

As early as the 42nd minute referee Keith Brown issued a general warning to the Lions for repeated infringements at the ruck, and from the resultant  penalty Ebersohn put the home side in front.

The Lions enjoyed both terretorial and possession advantage throughout most of the second stanza, but were unable to score any tries despite the visitors driving over the line fom open play inthe 49th minute.

The ball was held up over the line largely due to the defensive efforts of Ashley Johnson, but from the resultant scrum the Lions won a penalty which Jantjies easily slotted.

At this juncture Naka Drotske opted to take off the returning Springbok flanker Brossouw and replace him with fellow Springbok Kabamba Floors. Whilst not having been the most prominent loose forward on the field, Brossouw had a solid 50 minutes where he carried a number of crash balls, and also made his fair share of tackles.

In the 56th minute Ebersohn returned the compliment from long range and directly thereafter John Mitchell started to ring the changes with Jaco  Taute and Martin Bezuidenhout coming on for Killian and Maku respectively. Again it was perhaps an inspired decision, as Taute seemed to be able to break through tackles almost at will during his time on the field of play.

In the 58th minute James Kamana was yellow carded for a dangerous tip tackle, leaving the visitors a numerical disadvantage for a crucial portion of the game, and indeed the next real chance for a try fell to the home side when that man Johnson crossed the whitewash from a 5m scrum after sustained pressure from the home side.

Referee Brown was unsure about the grounding and again consulted the TMO who after lots of replays adjudged that the ball was lost foward over the line resulting in a 5m scrum to the Lions.

Again in the 65th minute the home side thought they had scored in the near corner only to have play bought back for a high tackle by WP Nel.

Shortly thereafter the Cheetahs infrnged at the ruck to give Jantjies his easiest kick of the night in front of the sticks. The youngster made no mistake and duly put his side back in front with 10 minutes left on the clock and the rain starting to fall.

From the kick off the visitors, now back to a full compliment of players surged back upfield in a move initiated when the underrated Warren Whitely broke from his own 22 and fed inside to debutant Michael Rhodes. The resultant backline move saw Jaco Taute dot down in the far corner, but a magnificent cross cover tackle from Floors cast doubt on the legitimacy of the score, and again Brown went uptsairs.

“Try /no try?” was the question, and replays showed doubt about both the grounding, and whether there was a foot in touch.

Eventually touch was ruled, and the Cheetahs were still in the game, but one increasingly got the feeling that the Lions would hold on for the elusive first victory under John Mitchell.

A feeling reinforced when Jantjies slotted a (for him) long range penalty to put the Lions 5 points to the good with just 7 minutes on the clock.

The home side had their chances to snatch victory but poor handling at critical times would ultimately cost them dearly and the game came to a conclusion with the Lions again pressing the home side’s defence.

Derek Minnie’s first half try was ultimately the difference on the scoreboard, but the truth is that the Lions probably deserved to have won by a larger margin.

Doppies la Grange was adjudged Man Of The Match, a just reward for the centre who is currently playing the best Rugby of his career. Indeed, many pundits have slated la Grange in the past as not being good enough for Super Rugby, but he is certainly making those people eat their own words now.

For the Lions, the euphoria of that first win will need to be tempered with the knowlege that the victory was far from perfect, and that the game plan of running the ball from everywhere, including under your own posts is potentially fraught with danger, partcularly if it is not executed accurately.

Elton Jantjies was again inconsistent with the place kicks, and in this competition leaving 6 -10 points off the board will lose you games.

The tight forwards were solid, and again Wikus van Heerden impressed with his workrate in the tight loose. Strauss had a quite game by his standards but Minnie and Whitely both had very solid games.

For me Mapoe’s defence is still suspect, and one must ask the question whether he is a liability or an asset? Especially with Jaco Taute in the squad, who on today’s perfomance after coming on for Killian is equaly capable  at wing as fullback.

For the Cheetahs it’s back to the drawing board. A tour down under awaits, and one cannot see them picking up many points on the evidence seen thus far.

Juvenile handling errors coupled with a lack of depth, crucial injuries and lack of selection consitency may well make it a very long season for the outfit from the city of roses.

The referee was alright on the night, but I personally  fail to see the logic of flying someone from New Zealand to South Africa to blow a local derby, when a South African referee is sent to New Zealand to blow one of their derby games. Maybe Andre Watson would like to explain the logic behind it.

Next game for the Lions is against the Western Force in Johannesburg next Saturday, a game that Mitchell will be desperate to win for obvious reasons, while the Cheetahs must make the long haul to Sydney to face the Waratahs the same day.