The Cheetahs claimed an important 33-15 win over Zebre after leading the game 16-3 at the half time break.

The seasoned Springbok, Ruan Pienaar, was sublime with the Cheetahs by scoring a total of 18 points from the boot to help his team earn four valuable points on the round.

Cohen Jasper scored a converted try for the Cheetah on the stroke of half time to swing the match in the team from Bloemfontein’s favour.

Minutes into the second stanza, the inside centre Reinhardt Fortuin dotted down, while the replacement hooker, Chucky van der Westhuizen, scored from a strong lineout maul to hand his team a 30-point buffer.

As the Cheetahs chased a bonus point try, the game opened up in the dying minutes and the hosts were able to save some blushes with tries by the scrumhalf Alessandro Fusco and the winger Simone Gesi.

For his perfect record off the kicking tee, Pienaar was named as the man of the match. The 39-year-old chased three conversions as well as four penalties through the uprights.

The Cheetahs will now return to Bloemfontein where they will tackle the Sharks on Sunday in the first-ever EPCR Challenge Cup match to be played in the city and the Free State. This game at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 15:00.

Scores:

Zebre: Tries - Alessandro Fusco, Simone Gesi Conv. - Geronimo Prisciantelli Pen. - Tiff Eden

Cheetahs: Tries – Cohen Jasper, Reinhardt Fortuin, Chucky van der Westhuizen, Conv. – Ruan Pienaar 3 Pen. – Pienaar 4

Zebre - 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Franco Smith, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Jacopo Bianchi, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dave Sisi, 3 Juan-Manuel Pitinari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Danilo Fischetti

Replacements – 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Taina Fox-Matamua, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Jake Polledri

Cheetahs - 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Siba Xamlashe, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Reinhardt Fortuin, 11 Cohen Jasper, 10 George Lourens, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Friedle Olivier, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Laurence Victor, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Schalk Ferreira

Replacements - 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Carl Wegener, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Sibabalo Qoma, 22 Rewan Kruger, 23 Ali Mgijima

Morgan Piek OFM Sport