Cheetahs’ curse continues in Canberra
10 Mar 2012
GARETH DUNCAN watched Christian Lealiifano kick a last-second penalty to give the Brumbies a 24-23 win over the Cheetahs in Canberra.
With a 23-10 lead early in the second half over a bumbling Brumbies outfit, the Cheetahs looked set to record their third Super Rugby victory in Australasia. However, referee Keith Brown’s strict handling of the scrum and breakdown swung the momentum and saw the Cheetahs heavily penalised in the final quarter. After Pat McCabe’s try, Lealiifano slotted three penalties for the win – the last one coming in the final movement of the game.
Cheetahs captain Adriaan Strauss said he felt hard done by as ‘the decisions went against them’ at the death. However, the Bloemfontein franchise had opportunities to take play out of their half following a Heinrich Brussow steal and a Philip Snyman intercept. A knock-on cancelled Brussow’s efforts, while Snyman looked for support instead of kicking his team out of danger. This saw the Brumbies take advantage of their favourable field position.
Head coach Naka Drotske will be disappointed considering his side had the upper hand against Jake White’s charges for most parts of the match.
The Cheetahs showed good attacking play in the first half, but their finishing let them down. After Henry Speight’s early try for the hosts, the visitors held most of the ascendancy in the first half, but they failed to capitalise from their regular visits to the Brumbies’ red zone. It took a smart run from speedster Willie le Roux for the Bloemfontein franchise to finally cross the chalk as he raced through following a set-piece move from a lineout in midfield.
It was a close contest on the scoreboard, with Johan Goosen and Christian Lealiifano trading penalties. A Goosen three-pointer on the stroke of half-time edged the Cheetahs 13-10 ahead at the break.
The Cheetahs built on their lead early after the restart, with a Tewis de Bruyn try and a Goosen penalty creating a 13-point buffer. However, the tourists imploded as their ill-discipline and poor decision making cost them a famous win. Their overseas curse continues.

95 Comments
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10 Mar 2012, 08:33 am
I am a cheetahs fan and I feel the refereeing was very inconsistent. I don’t mind loosing but not thru the ref’s in consistencies.
10 Mar 2012, 08:33 am
@HongKongSlong(HongKongSlong)-45:
He got the Japies.
10 Mar 2012, 08:34 am
What an injustice to the Cheetahs, funny how the scrums were no problem until the Brumbies were about to lose the match in the last quarter of the game.
10 Mar 2012, 08:34 am
Cheetahs robbed in Canberra — Headline on Supersport’s website …. but at the end of the day i guess its Jake 1 – SA 0
10 Mar 2012, 08:34 am
Irrespective of this result, the Brumbies are sh*t and going nowhere.
10 Mar 2012, 08:34 am
At the end of the game I was hoping that Strauss would say:
“Er Ja, you Aussies must really be enjoying your Kiwi referees…”
10 Mar 2012, 08:35 am
Bryce grabbed the gold (best ref) in NZ in 2011. Do we really expect bronze, silver etc to be any better?
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-48: Yeah it was stupid but that silliness didn’t cost them the game. It was the donkey with the whistle. When you get nailed for such BS all the time you do desperate stuff.
10 Mar 2012, 08:36 am
from rugby365 :
The referee blows the Cheetahs for twisting the scrum. That is just plain rubbish, but the Brumbies will take it. Christian Lealiifano slots the penalty and the Brumbies celebrate a 24-23 win. The Cheetahs were robbed, but the Brumbies won’t care how they get the win – any help will do for new coach Jake White and his team. That is full-time. Join us in a few minuites when we head to Dunedin for the encounter between the Highlanders and the Waratahs.
10 Mar 2012, 08:36 am
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-55:
Karma is a killer.
10 Mar 2012, 08:37 am
@Tuna(Tuna)-57:
Well, since they KNEW this clown was blowing them up for every little infringement in their own half, why the hell not get Goosen to kick the ball into the Brumbies 22 and play the game in their half?
But no, like idiots they try to RUN the ball out of their own half.
Boggles the mind.
10 Mar 2012, 08:39 am
lol, SA cricketers sitting in the stands having beer! maybe Morkel needs something stronger, he bowled k@k today ….
10 Mar 2012, 08:41 am
another manufactured result
10 Mar 2012, 08:43 am
At almost every scrum the Brumbies engaged early & no call from the toss of a ref but when Cheeters hit slightly early, he’s on the whistle. The least said about the last call the better.
10 Mar 2012, 08:45 am
Usually you have to go to Bisho to get robbed like that!
The Cheetahs do have deficiencies and will lose some games. Games like this though should have been theirs.
For the next week all that we will hear is:
“The Cheetahs have themselves to blame for not closing out the game.”
“South Africans are always whining about referees”
It will add to the frustration and and just make South Africans implode.
After the RWC Bryce show, all South Africans should have united in utter anger and gathered enough woema to moer the blerrie nasals.
It is time that all South Africans from the vet oke in the stands to the rugby administrators stand together and say more.
South Africans are far too willing to bend over and take a spanking from the bullies while they laugh at us.
10 Mar 2012, 08:51 am
Spineless SuperSport scribes have changed their heading.
Typical weak South Africans. (see last comment above)
Why try to not get the people too riled up? It’s time that we got more riled up and took action.
10 Mar 2012, 08:55 am
Watson is Paddy’s puppet … Paddy was the biggest cheat ever – hated SA teams! … and Hoskins is also a poefter ….
10 Mar 2012, 08:56 am
@BWA(Dusktill)-58:
Rugby 365 are usually quite good… that must be a ‘ring-in’… last penalty was for not pushing straight… and it was quite clear for all to see lazy players simply walking the scrum ’round’ semi-bound…
10 Mar 2012, 09:02 am
bryce, you know you are behind by 2 points and a penalty will cost you the game … why would you take the risk and not push straight? no one is that stupid … you’d push straight, give them ball on the back foot and force them to go for the drop kick … about only a 10% risk of them being successful!
10 Mar 2012, 09:08 am
@BWA(Dusktill)-68:
Watch the footage again… clear as daylight… break in concentration in the dying minutes… unfortunately much like last season for the Cheetahs…
22man 85min rugby…
10 Mar 2012, 09:15 am
The Cheetahs were mugged in broad daylight, **** that type of mugging doesn’t even happen in Hillbrow, SARU must pull the fack out of this SANZAR nonsense, we can play CC and have our players well rested for the Boks and see were that leaves Australia
10 Mar 2012, 09:17 am
YoMama @ 39
Cheetahs thought they had it won and eased up… common with all saffa sporting teams… and what was most impressive about bulls last week…
We need to be prepared to play flat-out for 90 minutes… and have to up our discipline and accuracy all round…
cheetahs should and could have won this game…
great pity… but only themselves to blame…
10 Mar 2012, 09:20 am
The ref pulled a Pro Legote on himself
10 Mar 2012, 09:24 am
Officiating is killing the game alone. Too many refs riding on the home crowds Mexican wave. Australian conference is propped up by the reds and the poor officials on the other side. SUPER 15 is only needed by one country and we know who that is.
10 Mar 2012, 09:45 am
@XhosaKid(XhosaKid)-70:
That will leave the world number two’s playing the world number one’s and the world number 4′s playing themselves back into the stone-age with all their best players long emigrated to ‘paying’ leagues in the NH and SH… smart move eh… doh!
10 Mar 2012, 10:22 am
And thats why the cheetahs and the lions will once again be the bottom-feeders of the comp. Lions lost a home game to the worst NZ team and the Cheetahs choked, with the help of poor refereeing , against the worst Auz team. ‘The Cheetahs deserved the win’, but thats an old and overplayed song.
Considering the form the Chiefs and the Highlanders are in, the only teams they have a hope in beating are the Force and the Rebels. And who knows if they will be able to beat those teams! Bring on the Kings,but pleaaase get rid of the Lions AND the Cheetahs. Its soo disappointing and pathetic to see the cheetahs loose time and time again. They just dont have what it takes. Id give the Lions a chance, but being bankrupt doesnt help their cause. Id rather see the Kings loose every weekend, but having 3 teams struggling every weekend is a embarrassment. And we want to be the best in the world, loosing so much cant be good for the players confidence and self belief !
10 Mar 2012, 10:23 am
IMO
10 Mar 2012, 10:32 am
The refereeing was poor, the brumbies engaged early almost 80% of the time, but the cheetahs got penalized! But they lost because their defense was poor once again. Against a better team they would have been beaten convincingly. They should blame their defense, and neutral parties should complain about the inconsistant and **** refereeing! Players gets sited, but why arent there a ref sighting committee? If the bugger is inconsistant he should at least be told about it. Otherwise the next team, most probably a SA team will be robbed again.
10 Mar 2012, 11:54 am
@Jeez(Jeez)-77:
I picked up the early engagement at the scrums as well. Quite pathetic actually.
10 Mar 2012, 12:06 pm
How many penalties did the Brumbies get in the last 20 minutes?
@Jeez(Jeez)-77:
Ja but the second last penalty was not for an early engage, it was because Strauss ‘moved his head’…
10 Mar 2012, 12:55 pm
ashley johnson loses the ball in contact ALL the bloody time: the fourth time he did it led to pat mcCabe’s try! that s(hit is not on!
he isn’t the only cheetahs player that doesn’t protect the ball…
no wonder adriaan strauss’ hair is always shaggy he must be pulling it all the damn time!
10 Mar 2012, 13:07 pm
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-79:
yeah, but unfortunately their defense cost them the game against a team that didnt play particularly well…not that penalty.
10 Mar 2012, 13:56 pm
@Jeez(Jeez)-81:
You cannot win against a ref intend on making sure the other team wins, defense will get you nowhere.
The reality is that their defense is poor, their ball retention is poor (just ask Trans) and they have a kuk coach but they should have and would have won if not for the ref.
10 Mar 2012, 13:57 pm
Yapple streudel’ed
10 Mar 2012, 14:04 pm
so you thought bryce could ref a match to kak and back..?..
no, there are dark horses riding…
10 Mar 2012, 14:05 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-80:
The Cheetahs were in the game through out and had their chances, it always the case when they play under a referee who is not a S African!
It may be something to think about!
10 Mar 2012, 14:13 pm
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-82:
When did the Cheetahs manage to win last time under Jonker, Joubert or Mark Lawrence control?
With a NZ referee the Cheetahs at least were in contention for 80 minutes, taking into account the flying East jet lag and being the visiting team, a loss by 1 point is not bad at all
10 Mar 2012, 15:28 pm
@bryce_in_oz(bryce_in_oz)-74: “paying leagues in SH”???
Where the **** do you think the kiwis and ausies will get enough money to pay their players when SA pulls out? From the gates? Yah right. Just look at your crowd attendance. From tv rights? Yah right, that figure will decrease quickly.
“Paying league in NH”? Well, I agree with you on that one.
Fact is, NZ made their bed with the ausies. They sold their souls when they agreed to stuff the Japies because we don’t share their accent, because we don’t share their population make-up, and because they don’t like our coach. WTF was wrong with Peter de Villiers? At least he was funny. ******* racists the whole lot of arsseholes.
If nz or aus play against any group of terrorists, I’ll support the latter. Have no respect left for those pielkoppies. Soul-less, moral-less bunch.
LOL. Have a good one.
10 Mar 2012, 15:41 pm
A case of NZ returning the favor (for WC?). The cycle will continue. Soul-less.
10 Mar 2012, 16:27 pm
Both teams are rubbish . You Africans have short memories. Marius Plonker killed any chance the Canes had against the Stormers
10 Mar 2012, 16:54 pm
Go to hell, Level. We are dealing here with a syndicate of crooked
refs. Not even lie detector tests and criminal profiling can weed out
this rot.
10 Mar 2012, 17:54 pm
@YoMama(YoMama)-64: This should have been done nearly ten years ago! We’ve been losing tests because of refs for a very long time now. The fact that the exposed email about NZ and Aussie refs wanting to “get those jarpies” didn’t lead to an investigation makes the IRB look more than a little dodgey. We all know that every sport is corrupt to some degree; but rugby takes it to a whole new level. When they say it’s New Zealand’s game… I never thought they meant they bought it, lol.
10 Mar 2012, 18:00 pm
@Dazzler(Dazzler)-46: It was a throw-back to the World Cup final!
11 Mar 2012, 03:27 am
@Kleuter(Kleuter)-87:
You think your team is the only one that gets shafted by poor refereeing?
As for sailing off to cooler waters leaving us poor Oceanians to fend for ourselves, heard it before, just a fantasy.
I wasn’t a fan of Pdiv because he was a plonker.
The ANZAC spirit will hopefully live on well after Ive left this earth, God defend Nz and God bless Australia.
11 Mar 2012, 04:38 am
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/sport/rugby/6521857/Chiefs-bemoan-unequal-treatment-by-ref
11 Mar 2012, 04:40 am
@level(level)-89:
I doubt any of us will argue with you on that one.
Jonker did the Stormers a favour.
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