Cheetahs clinch maiden win in Pro 14 beating Zebre 54-39

by The TRU Team Sunday 17 September 2017

Cheetahs defeated Zebre for their first PRO14 win

©PA

Cheetahs 54 - 39 Zebre, Bloemfontein

Cheetahs became the first South African team to register a win in the ongoing Pro 14 season after they defeated Zebre 54-39 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Carlo Canna gave a head start to Zebre with back to back penalties that came in the 2nd and 9th minutes while George Fabio Biagi crossed over six minutes later to increase their lead to 11 points.

Cheetahs opened their account in the 18th minute with a touchdown from Makazole Mapimpi and seven minutes later Zebre suffered a setback when lock Dave Sisi was sin-binned.

Cheetahs capitalised on the advantage when William Small-Smith and Luther Obi scored back to back tries in the 27th and 31st minutes respectively while a double conversion from Ernst Stapelberg ensured the home side claimed a eight-point lead that was decreased to one point at half time after Johan Meyer strolled past the post in the 36th minute.

The second half turned productive for Cheetahs as they amassed five tries through Mapimpi (44'), van Jaarsveld (51' and 59')Tian Meyer (66') and Sergeal Petersen (72') while Stapelberg add all five conversions to take the South African side to 54 points.

Despite tries from Mattia Bellini (56'), Faialaga Afamasaga (63') and Giulio Bisegni (78') in the second half, Zebre succumbed to a 15 point defeat.