Cheetahs stun Rebels

With two minutes left and the game tied at 26-26, the Cheetahs, who lost in the final minute last weekend to the ACT Brumbies, ran the ball from their own 22 through several phases to come up with the winning score.

Replacement fly-half Sias Ebersohn made a decisive break and scrum-half Van Zyl won a sprint to the corner to end the Cheetahs' three-game losing start and leave the crestfallen Rebels as the only team yet to record a victory this year.

"We are very happy with the win after we let one or two games slip but we can move forward now and I'm very proud of the guys for hanging in there," Cheetahs captain and hooker Adriaan Strauss said in a pitchside interview.

The Cheetahs attacking intent was on show in the opening stages and winger Willie Le Roux scored a try in the corner following a sweeping move after just two minutes, fly-half Johan Goosen converting from long range.

The Rebels were quick to respond and their forward pack instigated a strong rolling maul and hooker Adam Freier touched down for a try which Rebels fly-half James O'Connor converted to level the scores at 7-7 after eight minutes.

O'Connor was looking dangerous with ball in hand in his first start for the Rebels at fly-half but one over-ambitious long pass was easily intercepted by Le Roux who raced in for his second try after 10 minutes.

The Rebels were guilty of poor tactical kicking and their indiscipline allowed Goosen to stretch the lead to 20-10 with two penalties before halftime.

However, the home side improved after the break and O'Connor, after slotting a penalty, showed some brilliant skill to step inside two tackles and score a try under the posts ten minutes into the second period to tie the game at 20-20.

The Wallabies utility back and Goosen both knocked over two further penalties each as the game headed for a rare draw before the Cheetahs produced one final push to win the game with Van Zyl's superb score.

"It stinks, it really does stink, we got ourselves back into the game with a lot of effort after that first half," a dejected Rebels captain Gareth Delve said.

"We just switched off at the end and they scored a fantastic try."