What a game it was! There were breathless runs, huge hits in numbers at the breakdown, spilled high balls and raking, punishing kicks. We were treated to a feast of enthusiastic rucking, ceaseless running, and earnest, muscular endeavour as the two teams slugged it out on the damp Bloemfontein turf.

That was the first twenty minutes anyway. Once everybody's first-game adrenaline had been sweated out, we saw the true colours of South Africa's Super 14 challenge for this season, and boy was it ugly.

The kicking stats are yet to be released, but I would be willing to stake my shirt on the fact that both teams kicked away over 50 per cent of their possession. The non-stop chasing sapped the energy out of the players, and by the time they needed to add some quality and handling, neither team seemed to have the legs. The kicks soared back and forth, and those players caught under the arcs of the balls were often reduced to a hypnotic trance as the ball swung back and forth overhead.

The finale of the game was as dramatic as it was broken and error-strewn. That the Bulls stole a bonus point from this display was a travesty, just as it was a travesty that the Cheetahs had not levelled the scores with two minutes to go. The visitors will be no doubt happy to get five points, but that is about as smug as they should dare to get on this showing. a come-uppance may await against the Brumbies next week.

As for the Cheetahs, they were simply guilty of not believing in themselves. So many times the percentages were sought when bigger things beckoned. The forwards played well, but Willem de Waal should be forced to wear a basket on his back around Bloenfontein for a week, so wasteful was he with possession. Twice the Cheetahs backs carved their opponents to shreds. It was pretty much the only two chances they were given to do so. It is a sad state of affairs when the number of overlaps ignored is larger than the number of tries scored.

Back to that opening twenty though. Back further, in fact to the opening 74 seconds, for it yielded by far the Cheetahs' best passage of play. From a scrum conceded to an extraordinary knock-on by Jacques Cronjé, the Cheetahs swung the ball right, and Eddie Fredericks steamed over in the corner for a magnificent three-quarters' try. De Waal's majestic conversion from the touchline was a fitting capper for the move.

Thereafter, the Bulls took most of the control. Hougaard's kicks were more punishing than De Waal's, and the Bulls worked their way into the Cheetahs' 22. Twice Trevor Leota ripped the ball off scoring Bulls runners in goal, but there was nobody wide to cover Akona Ndungane a couple of phases later. Hougaard emulated De Waal with the conversion, to make it 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The game was already degenerating by the time the Bulls took the lead. From a Bulls ruck, Hougaard dropped back into the pocket as if to drop a goal, and the entire Cheetahs defence simply took that action for granted.

Fourie du Preez instead burst through a gap on the fringe, Danie Roussouw took the ball to the 5m line, and the ball was spun quickly wide for Johan Roets to score. Hougaard missed the conversion, and he was to land only three kicks out of eight all night, which made the Bulls victory more nervous than it should have been.

Hougaard also missed the conversion of a fantastic try by Wynand Olivier. JP Nel tackled the ball off Ronnie Cooke in the Bulls 22, Roets broke, passed to Hougaard, who found Olivier outside. Hougaard's decoy took out both of Olivier's tacklers, and the blond centre skipped between them to score. De Waal's penalty for the Cheetahs right on half-time made it 10-17.

The third quarter had nothing in it worth a mention, save Hougaard's penalty which made it 10-20. the teams kicked and kicked and kicked, and never once did any kick look threatening.

Eventually De Waal landed a penalty to make it 13-20, and then came the final frantic ten minutes.

The Cheetahs had, in a bizarre fit of extravagance, begun to use the centres as ball-carriers, with Meyer Bosman adding extra weight at inside centre. It had paid of handsomely in teritory, and with the Bulls tiring, Kabamba Floors - who stood out for his performance - slipped inside a flap of a tackle from Nel, passed to Bosman, who sent Cooke in under the posts. De Waal was suffering from cramp - in his kicking leg, I might add, and so Bosman was given the seemingly perfunctory task of landing the conversion to level the scores. He promptly missed, and the Cheetahs were still losing 18-20 when they could have been celebrating a draw.

Hougaard landed a penalty which clinched the game at 18-23, but the Cheetahs still had a bonus point in the bag with 60 seconds to go.

Then, with the hooter gone, Bryan Habana - another to stand out for his performance - picked off a wild pass, shrugged off a cuddle- sorry, tackle, from De Waal, and went under the posts for the try. Hougaard made it 18-30 as the Cheetahs gathered in a forlorn huddle.

The scorers:

For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Fredericks, Cooke
Con: De Waal
Pens: De Waal 2

For the Bulls:
Tries: Ndungane, Roets, Olivier, Habana
Cons: Hougaard 2
Pens: Hougaard 2

Teams:

Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Barry Goodes, 11 Sinethemba Zweni, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Ryno van der Merwe, 7 Juan Smith (captain), 6 Kabamba floors, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Corniel Van Zyl, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Trevor Leota, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Os du Randt, 19 Ockie van Zyl, 20 Frans Viljoen, 21 Falie Oelschig, 22 Meyer Bosman.

Bulls: 15 Johan Roets, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Fourie du Preez (captain), 8 Jacques Cronjé, 7 Johan Wasserman, 6 Danie Rossouw, 5 Francois van Schouwenburg, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Danie Thiart, 2 Kobus van der Walt, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Chilliboy Ralepelle, 17 Wessel Roux, 18 Pedrie Wannenburg, 19 Pierre Spies, 20 Heinie Adams, 21 Morné Steyn, 22 Riaan van der Bergh.

By Danny Stephens.