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Leinster will be wanting to forget their first trip to South Africa in a hurry.
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The Cheetahs recorded a second successive win in the Pro14 as they ended Leinster’s perfect start to the season with a comfortable 38-19 success in Bloemfontein.
The South African side had registered their first victory since joining the competition when they saw off Zebre 54-39 last time out, but Friday’s performance was much more impressive against a Leinster side who had beaten the other newcomers, the Southern Kings, 31-10 last weekend.
Ernst Stapelberg’s four penalties and a try from William Small-Smith, who latched on to captain Francois Venter’s offload after the skipper had been put through by Tian Meyer, gave the Cheetahs a 19-5 lead at half-time.
Torsten van Jaarsveld then went over from a rolling maul, before Ox Nche peeled off the back of a maul to make it 31-5.
Barry Daly added to his first-half score with two more for the Irish province, who went into the game on the back of three bonus-point wins, to complete his hat-trick and make the scoreline more respectable, but Luther Obi had the final say to seal an extra point with Cheetahs’ fourth try late on.
? #CHEvLEI
IMMENSE effort from @CheetahsRugby to hold off @leinsterrugby, and they snatch a bonus point at the death!#GUINNESSPRO14 pic.twitter.com/8cFQU28ZdI
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) September 22, 2017
The Cheetahs are now third in Group A, which is topped by Glasgow Warriors after the Scottish side won a battle of two unbeaten teams by overcoming Munster 37-10.
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The hosts were always in command and led 20-5 at the break, the Warriors then putting the game beyond reach as Nick Grigg went over in the corner moments after Billy Holland had been sin-binned four minutes into the second half.
From there was no way back for the visitors in a game that saw Finn Russell enjoy a fine day with the boot, kicking 17 of Glasgow’s points, with Munster’s misery compounded by Fineen Wycherley’s late dismissal.
Meanwhile, Ospreys suffered a third consecutive defeat at the hands of Treviso, the Italian side collecting their second win on the bounce thanks predominantly to eight points from the tee for Ian McKinley. The 16-6 triumph was wrapped up by a late penalty from Marty Banks.
Elsewhere, Ulster ran in eight tries as they put Dragons to the sword in a 52-25 victory.
