Reds win basement battle
The Reds beat the Cheetahs 22-3 in Brisbane on Saturday to leave the visitors rooted to the bottom of the Super 14 table.
Last Updated: 01/03/09 12:11pm
The Reds beat the Cheetahs 22-3 in Brisbane on Saturday to leave the visitors rooted to the bottom of the Super 14 table.
As with the Force on Saturday, the Reds made all the early running but couldn't get the points on the board.
They spent pretty much the entire first 25 minutes in the Cheetahs' territory, during which time the visitors missed 17 tackles.
But even when given a shot at goal, Ben Lucas couldn't make it count, screwing the ball nervously left.
By contrast, the visitors offered little in attack bar an early flurry of energy which yielded three points from the boot of Jacques-Louis Potgieter.
This was a worrying performance for Cheetahs fans, with the team looking resigned to its fate already.
The Reds looked much classier, offloading the ball in the tackle with style many times and willing to try all sorts.
Threat
Mark McLindn's threat on the counter attack from kicked ball nullified the Cheetahs' kicking game - as did the palpable lack of a real chase, something the baking hot weather could not excuse.
Peter Hynes went close after nine minutes following some super handling from Digby Ioane, Berrick Barnes and McLinden,
And it was only a bullish driving tackle from Hennie Daniller denied the Wallaby wing.
Ioane also continued to be a thorn in the Cheetahs' side with several telling breaks, with forwards running off all shoulders in an attempt to play some dazzling 15-man rugby.
There were too many handling mistakes in the humid conditions, but something eventually had to give.
When it did, it was a superb try. Van Humphries, Laurie Weeks, Sean Hardman were all involved with some slick handling before the accomplished McLinden skitted over from 5m out. Lucas converted for a 7-3 lead after 26 minutes.
The Reds continued to dominate up to the break but bad hands continued to let them down.
Errors
The Cheetahs enjoyed one brief attack near the Reds' line after the hooter had gone but Frans Viljoen knocked on as he stretched to place the ball over the line.
Little changed after the break and it was only a matter of time before the Reds scored again, with Ioane in particular terrorising the Cheetahs defence on a regular basis.
Lucas clipped over a short-range penalty to make it 10-3, then man of the match Ioane got the try his work deserved, taking loose ball from the side of a ruck and sprinting home from 50m.
All in all the Reds probably squandered five tries through handling errors.
Another went begging after 63 minutes when McMeniman's score was ruled out for an earlier no-arm tackle from Quade Cooper.
A 71st-minute drop goal attempt by Cooper, which fell just short, signified that the Reds had given up hope of chasing the bonus point in the stifling heat,
A soft try to Hynes however with four minutes to go rekindled their hopes.
