EP Kings beat Free State for first Currie Cup win

A fourteen man Eastern Province Kings earned their first victory of the Currie
Cup season by beating the Cheetahs 24-32 in Port Elizabeth on Friday evening.

Fullback Scot van Breda starred for the Kings with a stellar kicking display
which saw him contribute 22 of his team’s points on the evening.

The Kings were particularly impressive at set-phase play – dominating
in the scrums and securing crucial turnover ball from the line-outs –
and were deserved victors on the night.

The defeat has placed the Free State squad’s semi-final ambitions in
doubt.

The loss will be considered particularly disappointing by the Bloemfontein
squad as they enjoyed a one-man advantage for more than 30-minutes in the second
half of the match after Kings centre JP du Plessis was red carded.

The Kings had shown good potential early on in the encounter and enjoyed a
3-0 lead in the fifth minute following a Van Breda penalty.

The fullback would double his team’s score in the 13th minute before
the Cheetahs had their first say of the match in the when Gerhard Oliver dived
over from a rolling maul five minutes later.

Cheetahs pivot Fred Zeilinga converted to hand his team a 7-6 lead –
somewhat against the run of play.

Scrumhalf Shaun Venter then scored a quality individual try as he slid past
the Kings defenders to put his side ahead 14-6 in the 21st minute.

For the Cheetahs, Clayton Blommetjies provided many options on attack but it
was a brilliant break by Luther Obi which brought the hosts back into the contest.

While Blommetjies scored in the 34th minute to extend his team’s lead,
Van Breda kept his side in the hunt with the boot.

Up 13-19 at the break the Cheetahs tried desperately to build on their lead
and would have wanted to take advantage of the one-man advantage they enjoyed
after Du Plessis was sent off.

But instead they had to watch as Siyanda Grey scored at the other end to put
the King in front at 23-19 in the 56th minute.

While Van Breda kept knocking over penalties to stretch his team’s lead,
the Cheetahs had to settle for a consolation try by Sergeal Petersen which earned
them a crucial four-try bonus point.

Final Score EP Kings 32 (16) Free State Cheetahs 24 (19)

Scorers

EP Kings
Tries: Luther Obi, Siyanda Grey
Conversions: Scot van Breda (2)
Penalties: Van Breda (6).

Free State Cheetahs
Tries: Gerhard Olivier, Henco Olivier, Clayton Bllommetjies, Sergeal Petersen
Conversions: Fred Zeilinga (2).

Match Official
Referee: Quinton Immelman

Teams

Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey,
13 JP du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Enrico
Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Steven Sykes, 4 Stefan
Willemse, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.

Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19
Cornell Hess, 20 Jacques Engelbrecht, 21 Dwayne Kelly, 22 Elgar Watts

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen,
13 Francois Venter, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Cornal Hendricks, 10 Fred Zeilinga,
9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Oupa Mohoje (c), 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Reniel
Hugo, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 BG Uys.

Replacements: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Teunis Nieuwoudt, 18 Francois Uys, 19
Henco Venter, 20 Freddy Ngoza, 21 Ruan van Rensburg, 22 Sias Ebersohn