Chiefs pay the penalty
The Chiefs were left ruing eight shots at goal as they were held to a 25-25 draw by the Cheetahs in Hamilton.
Last Updated: 23/04/10 11:36am
The Chiefs were left ruing eight shots at goal as they were held to a 25-25 draw by the Cheetahs in Hamilton.
Despite scoring five tries, the Chiefs saw 19 points go begging as Stephen Donald and Callum Bruce failed to get a single point from the boot.
Sitiveni Sivivatu and Tim Nanai-Williams combined to send Colin Bourke over in the opening five minutes.
And although Naas Oliver slotted over a penalty to cut the deficit, Sivivatu put Dwayne Sweeney away for the second try for the Chiefs.
However, Donald was enduring a miserable day with the boot, though, as he missed his first three efforts.
And his was off target again after prop Toby Smith powered over for a 15-3 lead.
The lack of extras was telling as Davon Raubenheimer was driven over from a rolling maul and Olivier converted.
Donald's fifth missed effort saw a change of tactic from the Chiefs as they opted to kick to the corners - and that yielded an immediate benefit as Hika Elliot drove over for the bonus-point try, although the conversion was missed again.
Having been let off the hook, the Cheetahs came out for the second half firing on all cylinders as WP Nel and the Meyer Bosman both scored to see the visitors open up a 22-20 lead.
Despite Donald having been hauled off, Callum Bruce missed a simple kick from 25m out and then failed with the conversion as Messam raced over unopposed.
A penalty from Olivier with 11 minutes left levelled the scores - and although the home side were jeered as the error-count increased, the Chiefs held on for the draw.
