What a game!
| Kabamba Floors goes in to score his try, capping a man-of-the-match performance for the Cheetahs Picture: Sunday Times |
Games like today's are epics. Epics where the scale of bravery and commitment can make a legend of a man and a winning side. Men tell their children of moments they saw when the side they supported won the premier domestic competition.
And through 119 years of history, our Currie Cup (not just its finals) has provided many such moments. I have been told of Jannie Engelbrecht scoring a winning try with a broken collarbone - playing through the pain for the sake of his side. Of Gerrie Germishuys juggling the ball at his fingertips while going in to score. The occassion makes giants of mere men.
Today Barend Pieterse was a giant. A softly spoken man, the Free State lock towered over his competitors in the lineouts. His effort spoke volumes of the intentions of his team - to hold the Cup they had won last year for the first time in decades. Pieterse has played his heart out this season, and today was the climax of that effort.
Kabamba Floors is certainly no giant in terms of height. But it was another towering performance by the peroxided man who hails from Oudshoorn. Floors is a joy to watch. He gives everything and in the last two matches before today, he left the field with blood staining his orange bleached hair. Today was his best performance of the season. He was everywhere. While a fetcher's job might primarily be to compete for the ball in the loose, Kabamba showed he could carry the ball better than most too. His jinking runs into space created havoc for the Bulls and directly led to the Cheetahs best try of the day scored by Burger and another such run led to a try of his own.
The man who received the pass from Floors during that move and crucially did enough to draw Johan Roets and put Phillip Burger away was Richardt Strauss. Strauss played out of his socks today.
Micheal Claasens might also have played his best match for the Cheetahs today. It was a wonderful performance.
For the Bulls, Akona Ndungane made the pass of his life as he flicked the ball in the quickest of touches to JP Nel. It was a moment of brilliance that put the Bulls in the game.
Morne Steyn also played well when he came of the bench to replace an injured Derick Hougaard. The Loftus Liefling has played Steyn into his shadow in the latter half of the Currie Cup. But Steyn looked assured when he came on and set up Marius Delport's try with a deft chip.
Currie Cup finals should never be remembered as won or lost because of a mistake by a specific person. Willem de Waal was lucky that his pathetic attempt at a tackle on JP Nel, which led to a Bulls try, did not result in a Cheetahs' loss. Equally, Bevan Fortuin was lucky that the perfectly passed ball he dropped, while waiting to clear his side's half during extra time, did not result in points. Hendrik Meyer might also have been blamed for not diving on the Steyn's try-resulting chip. But blaming a single error for a loss would be unfair and thankfully no one was to suffer that fate.
There has been some bleating from some Bulls fans about Jonathan Kaplan's refereeing. Johan Roets certainly obstructed and was carded on Marius Jonker's instruction after three warnings for dangerous charges. Burger's gleeful grin at the result of his oscar performance left a sour taste in the mouth however. They also cannot complain about the yellow for a late Dries Scholtz charge on Willem de Waal.
Perhaps given the star performances of some of their players and the dominance the Cheetahs enjoyed interms of possession, the home side might feel they lost one they should have won. After playing for twenty minutes with 14 men, perhaps the Bulls will feel they did well to pull this one back.
But given the intensity of the battle, the passion of the home side's support, the Bulls fightback and the 100 minute duration, perhaps a draw was the fitting cap to a dramatic day.
posted at 12:36 AM
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