Cheetahs show why they're champions

The Cheetahs showed exactly why they are the Currie Cup champions, when they opened the defence of their crown as South African domestic champions with an emphatic 55-14 win over Griquas in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

The eight-try demolition of their Super 14 partners showed just how big the chasm between Super 14 experience and Vodacom Cup rugby was - almost the entire Cheetahs starting XV had Super 14 experience, less than a handful of Griqua players could say the same.

The Cheetahs, who beat the Blue Bulls in the Final at Loftus Versfeld last year, started 2006 with a bang, running up a 29-0 half-time lead on their way to the eight-try romp.

Such was the Cheetahs dominance that their coach Rassie Erasmus started experimenting and even put replacement scrum-half Falie Oelschig at fly-half for the final 20 minutes.

Griquas, who came into the competition at the expense of the Spears, look set to battle this season.

After scoring four first half tries the Cheetahs dotted down again in the second period through Bevin Fortuin, Phillip Burger and Bian Vermaak, who notched up a brace.

For Griquas they deserved some more points than the try by former Free Stater Lodie Britz, converted by another convert, Conrad Barnard. Vuyani Dlomo scored a late try for the visitors.

The first try, scored in the 14th minute by the hosts, well set up by Michael Claassens, who fed Currie Cup debutant JW Jonker at outside centre, who in turn laid off for left wing Gavin Passens to score a simple try in the corner.

The second try by the Cheetahs was also brilliantly set up by Jonker, who picked up the ball from a sweeping movement before drawing a man and off-loading to the opposite winger Giscard Pieters, converted by Willem de Waal, to give them a 12-0 lead.

De Waal then slotted a penalty to take the game further away from Griquas.

A costly error by the Griquas defence resulted in a try by lock Rory Duncan and the conversion was solid, with the Cheetahs racing into a 22-0 lead on the half-hour mark.

The Cheetahs secured the bonus point just before the break with their fourth try by Ryno van der Merwe to take the score to 29-0 at the break.

And the rout continued after the break, with the Cheetahs racing into a 43-0 lead, before Griquas scored their first points as the game moved into the final quarter.

But the experiments carried out by Erasmus caused some disruptions and allowed the visitors to score s second try (79th minute) - not that they were ever a threat for the Cheetahs.

The scorers:

For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Passens, Pieters, Duncan, Van der Merwe, Fortuin, Vermaak 2, Burger
Cons: De Waal 5, Bosman
Pen: De Waal

For Griquas:
Tries: Britz, Dlomo
Cons: Barnard 2

Teams:

Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Giscard Pieters,  13 JW Jonker, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Gavin Passens, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Ryno van der Merwe, 7 Darron Nell, 6 Hendro Scholtz (captain), 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Corniel van Zyl, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Rich Verster, 1 Ollie le Roux.
Replacements: 16 Jaco du Toit, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 Rory Duncan, 19 Bian Vermaak, 20 Falie Oelschig, 21 Sinethemba Zweni, 22 Phillip Burger.

Griquas squad: 1 Jané du Toit (Loosehead prop), 2 Eugene van Staden (Tighthead prop), 3 Hedley Wessels (Tighthead prop), 4 Cerneels Rautenbach (Loosehead prop), 5 Tiaan Liebenberg (Hooker), 6 Windpomp van Rooyen (Lock), 7 Lodie Britz (Lock), 8 Evan Botha (Lock), 9 Gareth Krause (Flank, captain), 10 Heinrich Stride (Flank), 11 Frans Viljoen (No.8), 12 Jacques Burger (Flank), 13 Wayne van Heerden (Flank), 14 JP Joubert (Scrum-half), 15 Tertius Carse (Scrum-half), 16 Johannes Rooifontein (Scrum-half), 17 Christophe du Toit (Centre), 18 Lafras Uys (Centre), 19 Eben Olivier (Centre), 20 Conrad Barnard (Fly-half), 21 MJ Mentz (Wing), 22 Brendell Brandt (Wing), 23 Vuyani Dlomo (Wing), 24. Zane Kirchner (Fullback).

Referee: Mark Lawrence (SARU)
Touch judges: Stuart Berry (KwaZulu Natal), Pro Legoete (Golden Lions)