Cheetahs fail to overcome slow start against Scarlets

A poor first half proved to be the undoing of the Cheetahs as they went down 45-26 to the Scarlets in their Challenge Cup clash in Parma, Italy.

The Free Staters made a good start and actually scored first, however, things quickly went awry as they conceded five converted tries and a penalty goal for a halftime deficit of 38-7.

The Scarlets eventually scored six tries, all converted by flyhalf Sam Costelow to add to his first-half penalty goal, while the Cheetahs crossed over four times, with stalwart scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar adding three conversions.

Three of those tries came in the last quarter of the match, however, the huge amount of points they conceded in the first half inflicting too much damage at the end, even though they finished the game strongly.

The Free Staters got off to a flying start when their left wing Munier Hartzenberg went over in the corner barely two minutes into the first half. Pienaar added the extras to put them 7-0 in front.

Costelow made it 7-3 a short while later when he landed a successful penalty to signal the start of an amazing point-scoring sequence.

Right wing Steff Evans made it 10-7 a few minutes later when he took a successful long pass to dot down their first try, with Costelow making no mistake with the conversion attempt.

Evans was again on hand to take a final pass to make it two tries in quick succession and with Costelow again hitting the mark with his conversion, they were now 17-7 ahead at the halfway mark of the opening stanza.

The Cheetahs found the Scarlets' kicking game to hard to handle and they conceded another try, a third one, when free-scoring wing Ryan Conbeer ran in from close range.

Fullback Johnny McNicholl made it four tries as he joined in the try-scoring act following another high-ball fumble by the orange jerseys and with Costelow easily slotting the conversion, the Toyota Cheetahs were in real trouble at 31-7 with not even 30 minutes of play on the clock.

On the stroke of halftime, lock Sam Lousi intercepted a loose pass to run in his team's fifth try of a dominant first-half display, which made the score halfway through the game 38-7.

The second half saw a better defensive effort from the Free Staters, however, it was their handling skills which continued to hamper most of their attacking efforts.

Late second-half tries by Reinhardt Fortuin, Daniel Kasende and Friedle Olivier reduced the deficit to 38-26 and caused a frantic end to the match.

However, the Toyota Cheetahs left their comeback too late as the Scarlets bagged a deserved second-round 45-26 triumph in Parma, sealed by a Ken Owens lineout-maul try minutes before the final whistle.

Toyota Cheetahs 26 (7) - Tries: Munier Hartzenberg, Reinhardt Fortuin, Daniel Kasende, Friedle Olivier. Conversions: Ruan Pienaar (3).

Scarlets 45 (38) - Tries: Steff Evans (2), Ryan Conbeer, Johnny McNicholl, Sam Lousi, Ken Owens. Conversions: Sam Costelow (6). Penalty goal: Costelow.