Impressive Brussow set for Springbok recall

Flank Heinrich Brussow boosted his chances of a Springbok recall with a superb second-half performance which helped Free State Cheetahs defeat Western Province 28-22 Saturday in the Currie Cup. The loose forward, who has spent much of the past 18 months sidelined by various injuries, forced several crucial turnovers after coming on 55 minutes into the Bloemfontein clash of South African championship title challengers. With Jean Deysel the only specialist flank named in the 24-man squad for home Tri-Nations Tests against Australia and New Zealand this month, it would not be surprising if coach Peter de Villiers called up Brussow. Newcomer Brussow was a revelation during the 2009 Test season with his scavenging winning many turnovers as South Africa topped the Tri-Nations table and defeated the British and Irish Lions in a three-match series. Cheetahs finished strongly to end the unbeaten run of record 32-time champions Province with a try by replacement back Corne Uys six minutes from full-time proving decisive. Uys intercepted a careless pass by prop Brok Harris and sprinted unchallenged to the line for a try fly-half Sias Ebersohn converted to give Cheetahs a 28-19 lead at a chilly Free State Stadium. Province fly-half Demetri Catrakilis cut the gap to six points with a penalty that created a tense finish in which his side spent 150 stoppage-time seconds inching forward before Free State kicked a penalty into touch and ended the game. Ebersohn (23 points) and Catrakilis (17 points) dominated the scoring and are second and third respectively on the chart behind former France fly-half Frederic Michalak of Sharks after four rounds. A bruising, bad-tempered top-versus-bottom clash in Pretoria ended in a rare win for leaders Golden Lions over Blue Bulls with a late Michael Killian try sealing a 36-27 victory. Each team crossed the tryline three times and the difference lay in the goal kicking of the fly-halves with Elton Jantjies goaling eight of 10 attempts while Francois Brummer succeeded with only four of eight kicks. Flip van der Merwe, one of five Springbok forwards playing for Bulls after Tri-Nations tour duty, was red carded 10 minutes from full-time following a second caution and Lions Michael Rhodes was yellow carded 60 seconds later.