Cheetahs victorious at the death against Zebra Parma in Amsterdam

The Bloemfontein franchise struck first thanks to some superb individual brilliance from Michael Annies. The fullback scooped a loose ball, tip-toed down the sideline and put in an accurate chip and chase to score a spectacular solo try in the 2nd minute.

A rudimentary error then let Zebra Parma back in the game. Cheetahs' flyhalf Ethan Wentzel dropped the ball and then shovelled a loose pass into a flying Giovanni Licata, who ran 40m before finding his winger on his outside who picked up the opportunistic try to go 8-7 up.

The Cheetahs had the last laugh of the half thanks to some creativity from Wentzel. The pivot took it to the line, collected his own delicate chip kick and put Jeandre Rudolf away for the try. The South Africans went down the tunnel 17-11 ahead.

It was the Italians who started the second stanza strong, showing good power in their lineout maul leading to scrumhalf Thomas Dominguez diving over to seal the deal. The conversion gave them a one-point lead.  

Their was plenty of endeavour from both teams as the half wore on, but neither side could convert their advantage into points. Dominguez would lament missing a straightforward opportunity off the kicking tee.

But with the clock in the red, Zebra Parma still found themselves nursing that one-point lead. The Cheetahs rolled through the phases and the Italians showed stoic defence. But the pressure eventually told and replacement Curwin Jasper ran a great drift line to glide over the whitewash in the 81st minute to steal the victory.  

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