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New entrant Cheetahs shock Pau in France

(Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

The Cheetahs made a huge statement when they started their Challenge Cup campaign with a 21-16 win over Section Paloise in France.

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The Bloemfontein side outscored their opponents by two tries to one in the match.

The match started slowly, with neither team really firing in attack, Clément Mondinat kicking Pau into a lead in the first five minutes, before Ruan Pienaar responded with a penalty of his own.

Two further Mondinat kicks gave Pau a half-time lead but neither side will have been happy with their first-half displays.

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But the second half was a completely different story, as Daniel Maartens went over for the Cheetahs to give them a 10-9 lead.

It sparked the home side into life and a Rémi Sénéca score restored their lead, which they kept despite powerful flank Oupa Mohojé charging over, as Pienaar pushed the conversion an inch wide.

But Pienaar kicked Toyota Cheetahs back into the lead before being substituted, and flyhalf Siya Masuku kicked another penalty to give them the victory as Pau’s ill-discipline ultimately cost them the win.

The scorers:

For Section Paloise:
Try: Seneca
Con: Daubagna
Pens: Mondinat 3

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For Cheetahs:
Tries: Maartens, Mohoje
Con: Pienaar
Pens: Pienar 2, Masuku

Teams:

Section Paloise: 15 Clément Mondinat, 14 Eoghan Barrett, 13 Yvan Reilhac, 12 Jale Vatubua, 11 Vincent Pinto, 10 Thibault Debaes, 9 Clovis Lebail, 8 Sacha Zegueur, 7 Thibaut Hamonou, 6 Martin Puech, 5 Jimi Maximin, 4 Hugo Auradou, 3 Nicolas Corato, 2 Lucas Rey (captain), 1 Rémi Seneca.
Replacements: 16 Youri Delhommel, 17 Siegfried Fisiihoi, 18 Nicolaas van Dyk, 19 Mickael Capelli, 20 Reece Hewat, 21 Thibault Daubagna, 22 Elliot Roudil, 23 Mathias Colombet.

Cheetahs: 15 Frans Steyn, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Reinhardt Fortuin, 11 Tapiwa Mafura, 10 Siyabonga Masuku, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Friedle Olivier, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Jeandrè Rudolph, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Daniel Maartens, 22 Rewan Kruger, 23 Robert Ebersohn.

Referee: Sam Grove-White
Assistant referees: Hollie Davidson, Ru Campbell
TMO: Andrew McMenemy

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H
Hellhound 3 hours ago
Pat Lam blasts 'archaic' process that lost the All Blacks Tony Brown

Now you are just being a woke, jealous fool. With the way things are run in NZ, no wonder he couldn't make a success there. Now that he is out shining any other New Zealanders, including their star players, now he is bitter and resentful and all sorts of hate speeches against him. That is what the fans like you do. Those in NZ who does have enough sense not to let pride cloud their vision, is all saying the same thing. NZ needs TB. Razor was made out to be a rugby coaching God by the fans, so much so that Foz was treated like the worst piece of shitte. Especially after the Twickenham disaster right before the WC. Ad then he nearly won the WC too with 14 players. As a Saffa the way he handled the media and the pressure leading up to the WC, was just extraordinary and I have gained a lot of respect for that man. Now your so called rugby coaching God managed to lose by an even bigger margin, IN NZ. All Razor does is overplay his players and he will never get the best out of those players, and let's face it, the current crop is good enough to be the best. However, they need an coach they can believe in completely. I don't think the players have bought into his coaching gig. TB was lucky to shake the dust of his boots when he left NZ, because only when he did that, did his career go from strength to strength. He got a WC medal to his name. Might get another if the Boks can keep up the good work. New exciting young talent is set to join soon after the WC as dangerous as SFM and Kolbe. Trust me, he doesn't want the AB's job. He is very happy in SA with the Boks. We score, you lose a great coach. We know quality when we see it, we don't chuck it in the bin like NZRU likes to do. Your coaching God is hanging on by a thread to keep his job🤣🤣🤣🤣

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