Cheetahs snatch last gasp win over Southern Kings

The Toyota Cheetahs snatched a last-gasp 31-30 win over the Isuzu Southern Kings in a thrilling Guinness PRO14 clash at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

At one stage it looked as though the Kings had the game in the bag, but the Cheetahs scored a late try after the hooter to snatch victory away from the hosts.

Cheetahs fullback Rhyno Smith latched onto a kick from scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar to score the decisive try.

Everything then depended on the conversion, which Ruan Pienaar nailed to give his team a narrow victory.

It was a seventh consecutive defeat for the Kings against the Free Staters in the Guinness PRO14.

Hopes had been high that the Kings would snap their losing streak, but they were once again unable to get over the line.

After leading 13-5 at the break, the Kings made the perfect start to the second half when captain Stefan Ungerer sprinted  50 metres to score an intercept try after 43 minutes.

The Cheetahs struck back after Kings loose forward Thembelani Bholi was sent to the sin bin and Sintu Manjezi scored his second try of the game.

In a high scoring game the Kings extended their lead to 25-12 when centre JT Jackson scored his team’s third try.

In the opening eight minutes it was the Bader Pretorius show as the Kings powered their way into an early 10-0 lead.

Flyhalf Pretorius scored a try, kicked a penalty and a conversion to hand the home team an early advantage in hot conditions.

Pretorius struck again in the 27th minute when he kicked a second penalty to give the Kings a handy 13-0 advantage.

The Cheetahs had to wait until the 34th minute for their first score when lock Manjezi  went over for a try after winning possession at a lineout.

Scorers:

Southern Kings 30: Tries:  Bader Pretorius, Stefan Ungerer, JT Jackson. Conversions: Bader Pretorius (3). Penalties: Bader Pretorius (3).

Cheetahs 31: Tries: Sintu Manjezi (2), Wilmar Arnoldi, Rhyno Smith (2). Conversions:  Tian Schoeman, Ruan Pienaar (2).