Cheetahs woes continue with defeat to Connacht

Bloemfontein - The Cheetahs' torrid PRO14 season continued when they were beaten by Connacht at the Free State Stadium on Saturday.

The Irish side won 21-17, after leading 15-10 at half-time.

The Cheetahs outscored their opponents by three tries to two but struggled to overcome an early 15-point deficit.

The Cheetahs have now only won two of 10 games this season and will head into their year-end break with lots to ponder.

Connacht, meanwhile, claimed their sixth win out of 10 starts and lie third in Conference A.

The Cheetahs’ next match is against Zebre in Italy on January 6, while Connacht are next in action away to compatriots Leinster on December 22.

Scorers:

Cheetahs

Tries: Malcolm Jaer, Joseph Dweba, Shaun Venter

Conversion: Tian Schoeman

Connacht

Tries: Tom Farrell, Gavin Thornbury

Conversion: Jack Carty

Penalties: Carty, David Horwitz (2)

Teams:

Cheetahs

15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Nico Lee, 11 Darren Adonis, 10 Louis Fouche, 9 Shaun Venter (captain), 8 Gerhard Olivier, 7 Abongile Nonkontwana, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Erich de Jager, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Aranos Coetzee, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Rudi Paige, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Benhard Janse van Rensburg

Connacht

15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Kyle Godwin, 12 Tom Farrell, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Jarrad Butler (captain), 6 Paul Boyle, 5 Gavin Thornbury, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Conor Carey, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley.

Substitutes: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 James Cannon, 20 Colby Fainga’a, 21 James Mitchell, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Cian Kelleher

Two wins from two in South Africa!! Yes lads!! #StrongerInGreen #CHEvCON pic.twitter.com/PZlsAqhFLW

— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) December 1, 2018