Spartans RFC 1. DA Eggman 2. AJ Izett 3. JP Wilkinson 4. JE McGrath 5. HT Davis 6. MP Chung 7. C Laing 8. M Deane (c) 9. BL Hornby 10. JRE Luffman (k) 11. SB Wilson 12. P Orr 13. BH Borisc 14. AM Farhat 15. BOY Blunder Cheetahs RFC 1. BA Storer 2. MJ Edwards 3. S Masters 4. SM Morgan 5. J McDougal 6. S Das 7. S Verigotta 8. SIA Yates 9. ND Short 10. GEC King (k) 11. JEM Logan 12. CJ Devonshire 13. SM Green 14. SJ Nova 15. SLO Graham (c) Post Game Injuries: None
Update: 0 mins GEC King takes the ball and is about to kick off the first game for the Cheetahs and the Spartans. Rumour has it that the Spartans are overly confident and Cheetahs RFC could provide an upset here. A big battle is between the two sides locks. JE McGrath will have to compete with his GB team-mate J McDougal and NZ Selector SM Morgan. HT Davis will have to have a solid game. BOY Blunder vs SLO Graham is sure to be a battle to remember.
Update: 20 mins GEC King has floated a lovely drop out for the Cheetahs and has given his forwards time to get to the ball there. But JE McGrath has been lifted with grace by JP Wilkinson and DA Eggman. They form a maul but get the ball out quickly. JRE Luffman takes the ball and stabs a grubber through in between Devonshire and SM Green. It has worked to great affect and MP Chung claims the ball and goes to ground. C Laing has just won that ruck on his own, awesome stuff from him. Hornby has passed one short to Wilson, but he has knocked it on and it is a scrum down to Cheetahs RFC. ND Short feeds the ball well and MJ Edwards has a brilliant push from his pack and hooks it back nicely. SIA Yates takes a pick and go and makes a few metres. It looks like a back move is coming now from the Cheetahs! GEC King has received the ball from ND Short and has popped the ball to Graham. SLO GRAHAM HAS BROKEN THE LINE FOR THE CHEETAHS! HE HAS STEPPED BOY BLUNDER AND HE HAS SCORED UNDER THE POSTS! 7-0 to the Cheetahs and SLO Graham goes 1-0 up in the Blunder/Graham battle. JRE Luffman sprints back to the half way line like a man on a mission and gets his guys going. He goes for a long kick back to SJ Nova. Nova takes it cleanly and ships the ball off to King who demolishes the ball and it is a lineout on half way.
Update: 40 mins AJ Izzett makes a solid throw into the lineout and McGrath takes the ball and pops it down to his halfback. BL Hornby goes on his own and makes about 10 metres. M Deane goes on his own and has made a brilliant gain! DEANE HAS BROKEN THE LINE AND ONLY HAS GRAHAM TO BEAT. DEANE KICKS IT THROUGH JUST BEFORE GRAHAM CAN GET TO HIM! But there is no-one to gather the kick and Graham regains composure and clears the ball without trouble. That ball has not gone out and BH Borisc picks the ball up. He makes a brilliant gain with that run and has made at least 20 metres. S Verigotta almost turns the ball over, but he has 4 men on him, and that is even too much for Verigotta himself. Hornby throws a miss pass straight to Orr who pops it back inside to Luffman. THAT BACK MOVE WAS PERFECT FROM THE SPARTANS! LUFFMAN HAS BROKEN THE CHEETAHS LINE AND IS GAINING METRES RAPIDLY. SM Green has covered so much ground there and comes back to make the cover tackle. Spartans regain the ball on the Cheetahs 5-metre line. The ref signals last play and the Spartans will want to make use of this. THEY HAVE! MP CHUNG HAS JUST PILEDRIVED HIS WAY THROUGH THE DEFENSE NEAR THE CORNER AND HAS GOT THE TRY! Luffman narrowly misses the conversion with an excellent attempt. But the score going into half time is 7-5 to the Cheetahs.
Update: 60 mins JRE Luffman puts a nice kick into the Cheetahs pack and J McDougal has pounded forwards there. On the Cheetahs 10 metre line now, they retain possession and make good ground with a rampaging run from S Verigotta. M Deane has just turned the ball over for the Spartans there! Brilliant back row play from him. He eventually gets tackled by S Das. At the breakdown, it looks like a backs move for the Spartans coming up. Luffman receives the ball and chips the ball over where Wilson is pounding on at pace! Wilson couldn’t take it cleanly. He couldn’t catch Swine Flu in a Mexican pig farm. The ball has rolled backwards and Wilson takes the ball. Spartans RFC have just scraped that move out and Farhat now has the ball. HE DODGES HIS OPPOSITE WINGER AND SCORES IN THE CORNER! The score is now 10-7 to the Spartans with the conversion from Luffman to come. He steadies himself and manages to slice it. GEC King puts a nice kick high up and SM Morgan has stolen the ball back for the Cheetahs! He has got in front of HT Davis and taken the ball. He has set up a maul now and Cheetahs drive and drive for a while and have made solid ground. King received the ball and put a perfect kick onto the Spartans 5 metre line. The Cheetahs will want to capitalise from here.
