A tenacious performance from the southerners was rewarded with a deserved first win of the campaign following tight losses to the Crusaders and Blues ahead of a testing three-match trip to South Africa.
It took a try to first five-eighth Michael Hobbs -- his fourth in three matches -- with seven minutes remaining to give the Highlanders some breathing space but even then the Cheetahs bounced back through Springboks flanker Juan Smith to make life interesting.
The visitors thought they had snared a bonus point try through flanker Adam Thomson in the dying moments but he was denied -- much to his annoyance -- through inconclusive third match official footage as he burrowed over at a ruck.
It left the only sour taste for Highlanders captain Jimmy Cowan following the three tries-to-two win.
“It’s a bit unfortunate but it’s still a pleasing result for us,” Cowan told Super Sport television.
“We’ve been a bit unlucky the last two weeks. We were very desperate as a group to get some points. We managed to get some points and we’ll move on… it makes the tour more enjoyable with a win under the belt.”
Cowan’s men now face stiffer challenges against the Stormers and Bulls but will be buoyed by a coherent performance which mixed strong set piece work with some committed defence.
Much of the match was a penalty war between Highlanders fullback and Israel Dagg and Cheetahs first five-eighth Naas Olivier. Both kicked four each and missed some crucial shots each during a tense second half.
Olivier put his team in front with three points before Highlanders centre Kenny Lynn, in his first appearance of the campaign, crossed in the seventh minute after strong buildup work from Hobbs and hooker Jason Rutledge.
The key moment in an otherwise-even first spell was a 60m try to Highlanders winger Fetu’u Vainikolo, who pounced on a spilled ball and stormed away to help push his team 15-9 clear by halftime.
The penalty tradeoffs continued after the break before Springboks openside flanker Heinrich Brussow burst through three tackles to score and reduce the margin to 21-19.
The score remained locked there until Hobbs pounced on turnover ball, broke a tackle and freed up second five-eighth Jason Shoemark.who was lowered 1m out from the line. Hobbs scooped up to score and was mobbed by his teammates.
Highlanders prop Jamie MacKntosh was named man of the match and was relieved his side bounced back from some early scrum difficulties.
“They (Cheetahs) have got an interesting scrum, it’s different to any scrum in New Zealand. They got on top in the scrum before halftime, which hurt us a little bit,” MacKintosh said.
“We came back and it ended up being a pretty good battle.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks and I’m just stoked we hung on to get a good win. We’ve got the Stormers and Bulls now who are probably the two toughest teams away from home over here.”
