17 October 2026
Aviron Bayonne secured a dramatic 29–27 victory over the Cheetahs in a see-saw encounter that went down to the final whistle. The French hosts survived a fierce second-half fightback from the South African franchise, clinching the win through a lethal length-of-the-field counter-attack. Costly kicking errors ultimately came back to haunt the Free State side in a high-octane fixture.
The visitors enjoyed a dream start when flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel slotted an early penalty to open the scoring. Minutes later, the Cheetahs stretched the home defence out wide, releasing winger Michael Annies, who turned on the gas to score in the corner. Swanepoel added a brilliant sideline conversion to hand the Bloemfontein-based side a prompt 10–0 cushion.
Bayonne struck back through their heavyweight pack, utilising a rumbling rolling maul for hooker Facundo Bosch to dot down. Centre Federico Mori then ignited the stadium, selling a beautiful show-and-go inside his own half before outrunning the cover defence to score. Rob du Preez added the conversion to edge the French outfit ahead.
Swanepoel recaptured the lead for the visitors with a close-range penalty, but Bayonne dominated the closing stages of the half. A sharp lineout steal sent Yohan Orabe over in the corner before Bosch bagged his brace from another unstoppable five-metre drive. The teams headed into the sheds with the hosts holding a 22–13 advantage.
The Cheetahs caught the hosts napping immediately after the restart as Carel-Jan Coetzee pounced on a loose ball from a high kick to score. The South African franchise maintained the pressure, keeping it tight in the trenches before hooker Louis van der Westhuizen barged over from a clinical lineout maul. Swanepoel converted both scores to thrust the Cheetahs into a 27–22 lead.
The Free State side had golden opportunities to cushion their lead, but Swanepoel uncharacteristically hooked two penalty attempts wide. Bayonne punished the profligacy brutally in the 66th minute by turning over possession on their own try-line. The hosts launched a breathtaking 100-metre counter-attack, with scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies running a sharp support line to canter over for the decisive score.
The closing ten minutes saw the Cheetahs decline a shot at goal to kick for the corner in search of the match-winner. However, the Bayonne defence stood firm under immense pressure, forcing a crucial holding-on penalty deep in their own 22. A final, crunching tackle in the dying seconds forced a Cheetahs knock-on to seal the result for the home side.
Scorers:
Aviron Bayonnais: Tries: Facundo Bosch, Federico Mori, Yohan Orabe, Facundo Bosch, Herschel Jantjies. Conversions: Rob du Preez.
Toyota Cheetahs: Tries: Michael Annies, CJ Coetzee, Louis van der Westhuizen. Conversions: Tiaan Swanepoel (3). Penalties: Tiaan Swanepoel (2)
Teams:
Aviron Bayonnais: 15 Yohan Orabe, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Guillaume Martocq, 12 Federico Mori, 11 Viliame Tutuvuli, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Baptiste Tilloles, 8 Giovanni Habel-Kuffner (c), 7 Baptiste Heguy, 6 Mahno Dealle Facquez, 5 Brian Alainu’uese, 4 Manus van Leeuwen, 3 Luke Tagi, 2 Facundo Bosch, 1 Ignacio Calles. Replacements: 16 Lucas Martin, 17 Swan Cormenier, 18 Lasha Macharashvili, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Hugo Leclerq, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Bastien Rasal, 23 Tom Spring.
Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Michael Annies, 13 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 12 Zander Du Plessis, 11 Prince Nkabinde, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Carl Els, 7 Simon Miller, 6 Neels Volschenk, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Frankie Dos Reis, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 1 Matome Manyama. Replacements: 16 Jaundre Schoeman, 17 Tebogo Nkosi, 18 Ben Pitout, 19 Aidon Davis, 20 Siya Ningiza, 21 Erich Visser, 22 Cohen Jasper, 23 Marco Jansen van Vuren.