The Cheetahs beat the Waratahs 23 – 3 in Sydney on Saturday to record their first ever win in Austrlasia.

There was little to commend the rugby on display but the Cheetahs won’t care an iota about that. They won so for them it was mission accomplished. They weren’t seeking a spectacular performance, they were looking for a win and that’s what they got.

Their in-your-face defence was tight, they kicked their goals and they scored the only two tries of the game.

They brought attitude to their performance – which the Waratahs did not – and earned their win if not through skill, then certainly through courage. They were also cleverer than the home team.

The spectators who made their way to the Sydney Football Stadium will feel hard done by. They deserved better and indeed, those who stayed to the end certainly deserved more continuity and creativity than they were offered. Sadly though, they jeered their team at half-time and when the Waratahs left the field after the final whistle it was to resounding booing.

Only a few players impressed in what turned out to be a laboured performance by both teams in a match which will have done nothing to promote the game of rugby football in New South Wales – to which the Waratahs are committed.

Except perhaps for a couple of neatly placed attacking kicks by the Waratahs from which they failed to finish – and the excellently executed long-range try by the Cheetahs – the game was almost entirely devoid of excitement. Neither team succeeded in building meaningful continuity or momentum.

The tempo was slow and while defence was good on both sides for the most part, the skills level was disappointing and the error rate high.

But be that as it may, the bottom line was that the Cheetahs will celebrate their first win in Australasia while the Waratahs will need to do serious soul-searching.

The Waratahs put the Cheetahs under pressure inside their 22 for the first five minutes of the match as they took the ball through phases but after Luke Burgess chose to tap and run from a penalty close to the posts a penalty to the visitors relieved the initial pressure.

The Waratahs enjoyed the majority of early territory and possession but it was the Cheetahs who opened the scoring in the 16th minute when the home team were penalised at breakdown and Sias Ebersohn goaled a penalty from 40 metres out (3-0).

The Waratahs lost Benn Robinson and the Cheetahs lost captain Andries Strauss to injury inside the first quarter.

The Cheetahs forced their way back into the game, in particular taking advantage of the Waratahs new hooker John Ulugia’s poor throw-ins at the line-out, but it was the home side which levelled the score at 3-3 in the 30th minute when the Cheetahs infringed at breakdown just outside their 22 and Kurtley Beale goaled the penalty.

Ulugia found himself substituted and banished to the bench after half an hour.

The visitors hit back to take a 6-3 lead in the 32nd minute when Ebersohn goaled from another breakdown penalty, this time from 25 metres out and in front of the posts.

A tedious first 40 minutes drew to a ponderous close with neither team having done very much impressive in the entire half.

Ebersohn took the lead to 9-3 in the 45th minute with his third penalty goal, this time for the Waratahs playing the ball in an offside position.

With just under half an hour to play Dave Dennis broke free to set up what should have been the first try of the game but Pat McCutcheon butchered what should have been a run-in by dropping the pass.

The Cheetahs had been enjoying more ball and better field position than early in the game and a kick ahead by Sarel Pretorius, the bench scrumhalf playing on the right wing after Strauss’s injury, gave the Cheetahs a five-metre scrum. But after one player after another bashed at the goal-line Coenie Oosthuizen knocked on and the pressure was lost.

At long last, after an hour, came a try.

Berrick Barnes launched a diagonal kick inside the Cheetahs 22 which was caught out of the air by Riaan Viljoen. The fullback transferred to Pretorius who raced down the right touchline and his inside pass gave Phillip Snyman a 65-metre run-in for his first Super Rugby try. Ebersohn converted and the visitors led 16-3.

With time running out the Cheetahs camped inside the Waratahs 22 and were eventually rewarded in the 78th minute when Pretorius scored from close-range. Ebersohn converted to take the final score to 23-3.

Man of the Match: Wilhelm Steenkamp deserves mention for 80 minutes of sterling effort and Sarel Pretorius, the usual first-choice scrumhalf who came on at wing, showed what a skilful – and underrated – ballplayer he is. But the standout player was Heinrich Brüssow, who played 69 minutes of brilliant fetcher-flank rugby. Brüssow is back and the Springbok selectors, and his rivals for the Bok fetcher position, will have taken note.

The scorers:

For the Waratahs:
Pen: Beale

For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Snyman, Pretorius
Cons: Ebersohn 2
Pens: Ebersohn 3

Teams:

Waratahs: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Atieli Pakalani, 13 Lachie Turner, 12 Tom Carter, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Berrick Barnes, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Pat McCutcheon, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Dean Mumm (captain), 3 Al Baxter, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Damien Fitzpatrick, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Sitaleki Timani, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Brendan McKibbin, 21 Daniel Halangahu, 22 Ryan Cross.

Cheetahs: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14, Phillip Snyman, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss (captain), 11 Fabian Juries, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Phillip van der Walt, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Martin Muller, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Skipper Badenhorst, 17 Lourens Adriaanse, 18 Frans Viljoen, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Francois Uys, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Naas Olivier.

Referee: Nathan Pearce
Assistant referees: James Leckie, Angus Gardner
TMO: George Ayoub

Source + Pic: rugby365.com