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Ruan Pienaar suffered a serious knee injury
- Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie praised his team’s narrow Super Rugby Unlocked victory over the Bulls as a great achievement given the adversity they have faced in recent weeks.
- To complicate matters, captain Ruan Pienaar burst into tears early in the game with a serious knee injury.
- Bulls mentor Jake White lamented his team’s poor discipline, but was still proud of his return.
Despite the narrow two-point margin of victory, Hawies fourie, the Cheetahs head coach, believes his charges 19-17 victory over the long-awaited Bulls in their Super Rugby Unlocked match in Bloemfontein on Friday night was quite a momentous achievement.
Except for disappointment over SA Rugby’s decision on its future PRO Rugby, the franchise had to deal with several other disruptions.
First off, former Free State Rugby Union Vice President Cedric Carson passed away before the team was further shaken by the deaths of Tumi Morakile and Eldar Mofo, who were involved in a major car accident on their way home. after last weekend’s win over the Pumas.
And, to complicate matters, the Cheetahs saw their captain and former Springbok midfielder Ruan Pienaar take off in the first half with what is feared to be a season-ending knee injury.
“When you take into account all the negative things that happened to us over the last two or three weeks, as well as the sad news that we also had to deal with, this was an incredible team effort,” Fourie said afterward.
“I am very proud of this effort. We knew we could win this match and as a result we backed each other. There was never any question, although it was quite close in the end. We kept our composure.”
The result is indeed an important statement of intent from the Cheetahs, not only in terms of the symbolism it represents in terms of being rejected by the Super Rugby franchises for PRO Rugby, but also that they can more than defend themselves against that total- opposition force.
“During the last few seasons, we have never been able to play South African derbies against the best teams in the country. We always want to meet the best,” said Vice Captain Junior Pokomela, who will now be elevated to the main category. role after the injury of Ruan Pienaar.
“Having the Springboks present is great. We want to show these guys a point as players and show that we can compete. It’s a blessing to play against them.”
Meanwhile, Jake White, the Bulls’ director of rugby, lamented his team’s poor discipline, particularly in the second and third quarters, although he praised their character in finishing strong.
“We gave way too many penalties in a row. We let the Cheetahs go off their field and then they basically went into ours,” he said.
“I’m quite proud of the way we came back, but the job is that we need to be more disciplined. We will also have to seize our opportunities, like when (replacement top middle) Chris Smith had a chance to tie the game with his conversion.” .
