- Cheetahs mentor Hawies Fourie believes his tighthead Conraad van Vuuren was unlucky to receive the red card that soured an entertaining Toyota Challenge match against an invitational XV.
- The 25-year-old front rower was sent off for a clean-out that made contact to the head of flanker Roelof Smit despite trying to adopt a very low body position.
- Fourie noted that the law is being applied strictly and that everyone will have to make peace with it, whether there are mitigating circumstances or not.
He was immediately condemned for the clean-out that led to his red card, but Hawies Fourie, the Cheetahs coach, believes Conraad van Vuuren's was "rather unlucky" to receive that sanction.
The 25-year-old replacement tighthead's dismissal summed up a tough day at the office for the Free Staters, who suffered the embarrassment of losing 35-43 to an invitational XV in Saturday's Toyota Challenge.
Affectionately known as "Beertjie" (Little bear), the former Bulls and Sunwolves player provided all with a timely reminder that even "keeping it low" - local coaches' mantra at the moment to their troops to avoid potential foul play - is no sure-fire way of staying out of the sin bin.
The Cheetahs had been attacking close to the opposition line when substitute hooker, Louis van der Westhuizen, tumbled after being tackled.
Roelof Smit, the invitational XV's influential opensider, immediately got over the ball from a very low position, so low that Van Vuuren's admittedly robust clean-out almost by default caught the Lions flanker on his shoulder and head.
And the law makes it clear: a hit to the head is a straight red.
"It's definitely an incident that everyone should be mindful of, particularly when the stakes are a bit higher," said Fourie.
"I felt that Conraad was actually rather unlucky, but that's the way things are going at the moment with the application of the laws. He and the rest of us will have to make peace with that fact and adapt.
"I have to admit that I don't believe he could've gone down much lower. He went over the other cleaner (Cheetahs replacement scrumhalf Tian Meyer) and really tried to make his hit as low as he could.
"But was still contact to the head. That's how the law is applied all over the world and we'll have to adapt to it very quickly."
While the once-off spectacle - designed to give Springbok hopefuls Frans Steyn and Rosko Specman as well as the Cheetahs much-needed game-time - didn't exactly hold much significance, Fourie admitted that his team didn't cover themselves in glory.
"We wanted to work on a lot of stuff that we've been doing over the past two months. It didn't look that way in this match," he said.
"We made a lot of errors, forced a lot passes and conceded a lot of turnovers. We were not pleased with this performance."
Meanwhile, Cheetahs skipper Ruan Pienaar praised the hunger shown by former Springbok assistant Ricardo Loubscher's invitational XV, who only had two training sessions together but played like a cohesive unit.
"They played like a team that's been together for a year already. They showed a lot more character and spirit than us. They definitely outplayed us."
The Cheetahs travel to Potchefstroom on Wednesday, where they'll have a training camp before playing another Currie Cup warm-up against the Leopards at the weekend.