Cheetahs denied by Oyonnax at the death in agonising Challenge Cup defeat

The Cheetahs led for virtually the entire match despite playing most of it with 14 men following an early red card to Munier Hartzenberg, but Adrien Bordenave scored a try for Oyonnax in the ninth minute of injury time before Jules Soulan kicked the conversion to consign the visitors to a heartbreaking one-point defeat.

Despite the disappointment, the Cheetahs still look set to qualify for the Round of 16 in the competition as they were able to pick up two bonus points in the losing effort.

The visitors started the match by scoring two unanswered tries, one from winger Hartzenberg and another from hooker Marnus van der Merwe, as they raced to a 12-0 lead.

But disaster struck in the 18th minute when a yellow card to Hartzenberg for taking out a player in the air was upgraded to a red following a review, leaving them to cope with 14 men for the remainder of the match.

Despite the setback, it was the Cheetahs who scored next when a chip over the top from Daniel Kasende fell kindly for Ruan Pienaar, who gratefully accepted the ball before cantering over for their third try.

But their discipline continued to let them down and when Viktor Sekekete was also yellow-carded not long after, it reduced the Cheetahs to 13 men, allowing the home side to run in two late tries to reduce the deficit to just eight points heading into the break.

The Cheetahs were quick out of the blocks and scored first in the second half to extend their lead, but their numerical disadvantage finally started to tell as the match wore on, with Oyonnax bossing the final quarter of the match, and a 62nd-minute try from David Odiase brought the home side to within touching distance before Bordenave's last-gasp try saw them snatch victory at the death.

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