The match in the Windy City was deadlocked at 17-17 with no time left on the clock but a late twist saw the men from Bloemfontein retain their unbeaten status over the Kings.

The windy conditions made life difficult for the Cheetahs, but by the same token, they failed to capitalise on the wind when it was at their backs during the first 40 minutes. While their set-piece was nothing less than awesome, they let themselves down when it came to their handling and they will also not be happy with the two yellow cards they conceded.

The Cheetahs opened the scoring in the eighth minute of the game when the leading try scorer in the Pro14, Rabz Maxwane, strolled in for his 9th try of the campaign.

The Kings missed an opportunity to get on the board when they had a one-man advantage after the Cheetahs captain, Tian Meyer, was sin-binned in the 17th minute for cynical play.

This saw the game going into the half time break with the Cheetahs leading the match 7-0.

The Kings opened the scoring in the second half when flyhalf, Ntabeni Dukisa, crossed the whitewash for a converted try in the 43rd minute to level matters.

A mere three minutes later, Junior Pokomela, struck back for the Cheetahs in his home town when he crashed over for the visitors' second try and to regain the seven-point lead.

Masixole Banda made it a four-point ball game a few minutes later by slotting a perfectly executed penalty in the windy conditions.

In the 65th minute, Benhard Janse van Rensburg slotted a regulation penalty for the Cheetahs to stretch their lead to seven points again and this proved to be a very important score.

With seven minutes remaining on the clock, the Cheetahs received their second yellow card of the game when the replacement prop, Luan de Bruin, was binned, and there was further punishment for the Free Staters as the referee, Quinton Immelman, awarded a penalty to the hosts and this leveled matters at 17-17 with the time running out quickly.

The Cheetahs showed tremendous character to hold off the Kings with one man less and to force the match to go way beyond the regulation 80 minutes.

De Bruin came back onto the park in the 84th minute after serving his time on the naughty chair and made up for his earlier infringement by scoring the winning try.

While the Cheetahs will be happy with the four points in the bag, they will most certainly not be happy with the way in which they won. Their handling, in particular, was very poor on the evening and conditions cannot be used as an excuse.  

The Cheetahs hooker, Joseph Dweba, was named as the man of the match, and it is a third time this season that he has received the accolade.

The Cheetahs next assignment is on Saturday when they host the Italian outfit, Zebre, in Bloemfontein.

Scorers:

Southern Kings: Tries – Ntabeni Dukisa, Penalty try Conv. – Masixole Banda Pen. - Banda.

Toyota Cheetahs: Tries – Rabz Maxwane, Junior Pokomela, Luan de Bruin Conv. – Tian Schoeman 2, Louis Fouché Pen. – Benhard Janse van Rensburg.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport