While the Ospreys where by far the better team on the field, the Cheetahs were nothing less than poor in just about every aspect of the game. Their handling, in particular, was substandard for a team playing at this level, and this was not the first game. By half time they were comfortably leading the handling errors count with 9-1.

The scoring at the Toyota Stadium was opened in the 25th minute of the game when the fullback, Dan Evans, sliced through the Cheetahs defence after sustained pressure by the visitors.

Minutes later the flanker, Olly Cracknell, doubled the lead for the Welshmen with a second try.

This was enough to see the Ospreys leading the game 14-0 at the break.

The Cheetahs struck early in the second half when the centre, Dries Swanepoel, dotted down in the 46th minute for what was his first try in a Cheetahs jersey.

The joy was short-lived for the home side as the captain of the Ospreys, Justin Tipuric, went over the white-wash just two minutes later to reclaim the seven-points they conceded.

Cory Allen went over for what should have been the bonus point try, however, the TMO rightly deemed him to be in front of the kicker, but he did rectify that mistake a minute later by diving over the line for the score.

Sam Davies slotted a penalty in the 68th minute to put the game way out of reach of the Cheetahs.

The 73rd minute try by the replacement hooker, Reinach Venter, served as nothing more as a consolation for the Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs handling is clearly one of their big problems at the moment and one cannot help but feel that the absence of Dave Williams has something to do with the decline in the team's ability with the ball in hand. One simply has to take a look at the Sharks 42-5 drubbing of the Lions a night earlier at a wet Ellis Park to realise how well Williams can fine-tune a team in this aspect.

Scorers:

Toyota Cheetahs: Tries – Dries Swanepoel, Reinach Venter Conv. – Tian Schoeman 2

Ospreys: Tries – Dan Evans, Olly Cracknell, Justin Tipuric, Cory Allen Conv. – Luke Price 3, Sam Davies 1 Pen. - Davies

Toyota Cheetahs – 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Dries Swanepoel, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Shaun Venter (captain), 8 Henco Venter, 7 Abongile Nonkontwana, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Charles Marais.

Replacements – 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Aranos Coetzee, 18 Reinach Venter, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Louis Fouché, Carel Jan Coetzee.

Ospreys - 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Cory Allen, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Luke Price, 9 Aled Davies, 8 James Kings, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Bradley Davies, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Nicky Smith.

Replacements - 16 Scott Otten, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Ma'afu Fia, 19 Dan Lydiate, 20 Sam Cross, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Luke Morgan.

@MorganPiek OFM SPort