The Toyota Cheetahs were knocked out of the EPCR Challenge Cup on Saturday after falling short to ASM Clermont in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in the round of 16.

The French Top 14 team held on for a 27-22 win against the much-less fancied Cheetahs, after leading this game 22-3 at half time.

In the first 60-minutes of the game the Cheetahs weren’t given much ball to play with by the French team, and that which they did get, they didn’t use. Having said that, nerves in the first 40 minutes definitely played a big role

The winger, Joris Jurand, opened the scoring for Clermont at Stade Marcel-Michelin in the second minute of the match following a missed lineout by the visitors from Bloemfontein.

Ruan Pienaar, who was playing in his last international match, got the Cheetahs on the board with a penalty in the 12th minute.

Anthony Belleau landed a penalty for the home team, before Bautista Delguy ran in for the softest tries following a cross-field kick, but there are questions about whether or not he wasn’t in front of the kicker.

Etienne Fourcade then scored for Clermont a few minutes after the half-time hooter to hand his side a 19-point lead at the break.

A Baptiste Jauneau score pushed Clermont’s lead up to 24-points in the 54th minute.

The replacement flanker, Sibabalo Qoma, gave the Cheetahs a lot of energy and seconds after coming onto the field he powered over for the first of his two tries. Then, a brilliant kick by Pienaar saw the fullback Tapiwa Mafura go in for a try in the corner and give the Cheetahs a sniff.

Qoma managed to power over again to complete his brace with seven minutes to go, but the Cheetahs blew an opportunity for what could have been a match-winning try, when Pienaar made a rare mistake by kicking the penalty for a lineout too far.

The coach, Izak van der Westhuizen, conceded that they weren't quite on par with a team like Clermont, but lauded his troops for the tremendous fight they showed.

“You could see that there was a lot of fight and effort from the guys, which is all you can ask for as a coach,” said Van der Westhuizen.

“I want to commend the players for that and applaud them for their effort. Technically we were not quite there. We made a couple of technical errors, but that is something we can work on and figure out in the future.

“Overall, I think we took Clermont close to a dark place there at the end and I just would have loved it if we could have pulled off the win.”

Clermont held on for the win and they will now tackle the winner between Montpellier and Ulster in the quarter-finals.

Offload Central!

What a start for @ASMOfficiel ??

Watch all the action on @francetvsport, @beinsports_FR, @SuperSportTV and @FloRugby ??#ChallengeCup pic.twitter.com/8B7s23m9KD

— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) April 6, 2024

Scorers:

Clermont: Tries - Joris Jurand, Bautista Delguy, Etienne Fourcade, Baptiste Jauneau Conv. - Anthony Belleau 2 Pen. – Belleau 1

Cheetahs:  Tries – Sibabalo Qoma 2, Tapiwa Mafura Conv. – Ruan Pienaar 2 Pen. – Pienaar 1

Clermont - 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Léon Darricarrere, 12 Julian Heriteau, 11 Joris Jurand, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Sebastien Bezy (captain), 8 Pita Gus Sowakula, 7 Alexandre Fischer, 6 Peceli Yato, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Giorgi Beria

Replacements - 16 Yohan Beheregaray, 17 Daniel Bibi Biziwu, 18 Giorgi Dzmanashvili, 19 Paul Jedrasiak 20 Lucas Dessaigne, 21 Baptiste Jauneau, 22 Theo Giral, 23 Alivereti Raka

Cheetahs - 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Munier Hartzenberg, 12 Andell Loubser, 11 Litha Nkula, 10 George Lourens, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Friedle Olivier, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Jeandré Rudolph, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 1 Schalk Ferreira

Replacements - 16 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Laurence Victor, 19 Mzwanele Zito, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Gideon van der Merwe, 22 Abner van Reenen, 23 Rewan Kruger

Morgan Piek OFM Sport