After each team lost to holders Western Province and the Blue Bulls in the opening first two rounds the pressure was on both teams to claim a win.

The Cheetahs went into the half-time break with a slender 10-9 lead thanks to a converted Rayno Benjamin try and a penalty by Fred Zeilinga.

The home side stayed in the hunt with three penalties by winger, Ntabeni Dukisa.

The second half saw Zeilinga, Sergeal Petersen and Gerhard Olivier all dot down in the space of six minutes to earn their valuable bonus point win.

Cheetahs captain Francois told OFM Sport that it's good to finally get the proverbial monkey off their back.

“It was good, you know in patches I think we weren’t great. We still have a lot of work to do, I still feel that we get a bit erratic.

“I don’t know what the line break stats are, we had quite a few especially in the first half and we still struggle to finish.

“That’s something that sometimes means that we are getting a bit overzealous and a bit just too eager to score, so we’ll have to learn to just calm down when we’re in that position and just keep knocking.

Peacock Blues captain, Tian Meyer told OFM Sport that their three consecutive losses has nothing to do with fitness, focus could be their Achilles heel at the moment.

“We’re are always accessing it and stuff, I think a lot of it has to do with the mental state of the mind of the boys.

“There’s a lot of talk of the teams fitness and stuff, but I really think we are fit enough. We’ve really worked hard and we’ve come through that qualifying campaign, so I think we really are fit enough, but it’s just the boys not focussing for 80-minutes.

Flyhalf, Zeilinga was named as the man of the match for his outstanding marshalling of the Cheetahs backline and his contribution of 16 points.

In last night's other match, the Pumas narrowly edged the Eastern Province Kings with a 15-13 in Port Elizabeth.

This evening the Sharks host the Golden Lions in Durban at 17:05 and at 19:10 The Blue Bulls are home to Western Province at Loftus Versfeld in the big north-south derby.

Scores:

Griquas: Pen. – Ntabeni Dukisa 3

FS Cheetahs: Tries – Rayno Benjamin, Fred Zeilinga, Sergeal Petersen, Gerhard Olivier Conv. – Fred Zeilinga 4 Pen. – Fred Zeilinga 1.

Morgan Piek / OFM News