Cheetahs troop home winless

The Cheetahs ended their tour of Australasia winless on Saturday after going down 32-8 to the Highlanders in Dunedin.

The South Africans fought gamely and even led at half-time but shipped 27 unanswered points after the break as the Highlanders' forward power proved too much.

The win could have come at a cost for the home side though, with both Jason Shoemark and Daniel Bowden departing with serious looking injuries.

It took the Highlanders quite a while to get the upper hand their superiority deserved. Bowden and Matt Berquist missed five shots at goal between them before the latter eventually converted a second-half penalty, while the visitors made the most of their chances.

Jacques-Louis Potgieter opened the scoring with a penalty after Bowden had missed his first kick, but on 20 minutes came a glimpse of the kind of movement that was to win the game when the Highlanders took a lineout and created that rarity - a driving maul.

Adam Thomson peeled off the back in text book fashion and forced his way over the line for the try.

The Cheetahs enjoyed a moment of good fortune to move back in front after half-an-hour when a high kick from Hennie Daniller was spilled by Jimmy Cowan and scooped up by Corne Uys who steamed home.

Ascendancy

But by that time the Highlanders were already in the ascendancy. On two separate occasions their scrum destroyed the opposition, on several others the Cheetahs resorted to tricks such as wheeling to help their cause.

Only execution let them down initially, but having tropped into the dressing room at the break 8-5 down, the Highlanders came out far tighter after the break.

Israel Dagg took his side back into the lead when he got onto the end of a grubber kick from Berquist, but still the fly-half could not find his range, missing his third kick at goal to follow Bowden's three.

Berquist finally landed a penalty to stretch the lead to 13-8 after 50 minutes and then George Naoupu's fantastic burst and off load was finished off under the posts by Steven Setephano.

Thomson completed a spell of pressure sparked by Cowan's speedy burst of pace down the middle and continued by Alando Soakai's bullocking run, to bring up the bonus point.

Dagg added his second in the left corner, once again after a heavy spell of forward pressure, although Berquist missed the conversion.