Cheetahs 14
Emerging Ireland 21
Morgan Piek reports from Toyota Stadium
EMERGING IRELAND WRAPPED up their tour of South Africa on Sunday afternoon with a 21-14 win over the Toyota Cheetahs at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.
While the Irish were able to win the match against a team that was rattled by illness in camp during the night, they were by far the better team with regards to converting their opportunities into points. A bug struck down four of the Cheetahs players and one of them was even hospitalised.
The Cheetahs were the first team with an opportunity to get on the board. However, the try by the winger Daniel Kasende was not awarded following a TMO review.
The first time the Irish managed to move into the Cheetahs half of the field they made it count with sustained pressure that led to penalty and ultimately resulted in the scrum-half, Nathan Doak, dotting down for a converted try in the 19th minute.
The Cheetahs got on the board in the 26th minute of the game when they capitalised on their two-man advantage in the pack to force a penalty try from a scrum, this while flanker Cian Prendergast and lock Joe McCarthy were each serving 10 minutes in the sin bin for cynical play.
The match was all square at 7-7 at the interval in the City of Roses.
The visitors regained the lead in the 53rd minute when fullback Shane Daly beat several Cheetahs defenders to score the team’s second try. Jack Crowley once again added the two extra points with the conversion.
Emerging Ireland got their third try when they managed to break the Cheetahs lines following another solid lineout from a penalty in their own 22′. The perfectly executed set piece allowed the centre Jamie Osborne to score under the posts. Crowley added the extra two.
The Cheetahs second try was almost a carbon copy of their first score, with a strong scrum resulting in a penalty try with less than five minutes remaining on the clock.
Despite a late onslaught from the Cheetahs, the Irish managed to avoid the game being drawn level in the dying stages of the encounter.
The Cheetahs were most certainly their own worst enemy by not converting their scoring opportunities, but they will feel that this is something that can be remedied with more regular game time.
The visitors themselves couldn’t win the hearts and minds of the local supporters: it got to a point where they were booed for their constant delaying tactics that saw all three of their games taking just about two hours to complete.
Scorers for Cheetahs:
Tries: Penalty try (2)
Scorers for Emerging Ireland:
Tries: Nathan Doak, Shane Daly, Jamie Osborne
Cons: Jack Crowley (3/3)
CHEETAHS: 15 Cohen Jasper, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Tapiwa Mafura, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Oupa Mohoje, 7 Rynier Bernardo, 6 Jeandré Rudolph, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Marné Coetzee, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Beertjie van Vuuren, 19 Jean Drosté, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Rewan Kruger, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Munier Hartzenberg.
EMERGING IRELAND: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Stewart Moore, 11 Robert Baloucoune, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 Max Deegan (captain), 7 Josh Hodnett, 6 Cia Prendergast, 5 Tom Ahern, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Thomas Clarkson, 2 Tom Stewart, 1 Michael Milne.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Roman Salanoa, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 James Culhane, 21 Ben Murphey, 22 Jake Flannery, 23 Chay Mullins
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