The Chiefs, led by a stellar kicking display from flyhalf Glen Jackson, defeated a lacklustre Cats 36-25 in a Super 12 encounter played at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Jackson kicked seven from seven attempts at goal, via three conversions and four penalties to lead the Chiefs to a vital away win.

The visitors raced into a 23-10 half-time lead and despite a spirited fight back, where the Cats came within a point of their opponents, the visitors finished strongly.

The Cats' fifth straight loss ensured that South African teams occupy the last three places on the log while the Chiefs remain ninth despite the victory.

The Chiefs were not as dynamic as the Cats were abysmal but deserved the win. Cats flyhalf Andre Pretorius was the pick of a poor bunch with a
15-point contribution via a try, two penalties and a conversion.

For the Chiefs, two-try hero Roger Randle was outstanding while flanker Marty Hollah was in inspirational form.

The Cats started their mini-revival - after trailing 23-3 at one stage - with a try either side of the break, the first a brilliant effort by Pretorius and the second three minutes after the restart by centre Jorrie Muller.

Muller's try took the video referee three minutes to adjudicate after the youngster beat Chiefs fullback Bruce Reihana to the ball after a chase down the left flank.

A Pretorius (pictured) penalty narrowed the score to 23-18 but a penalty by Jackson increased the gap once more.

The Cats steamed into contention on the back of a sustained period of pressure with left wing Dean Hall going over in the corner and Pretorius converting, to take the score to 26-25 in the Chiefs favour.

But the Cats threw the match away with poor option-taking. Chiefs left wing Karl Tenana scored the deciding try in the 67th minute, converted by Jackson, and a penalty by substitute kicker David Hill further extended the lead to 36-25.

The first half started dreadfully for the Cats with Pretorius missing an outrageously easy kick in front of the posts, and it got worse for the hosts as the Chiefs ran up a healthy lead.

Jackson started the ball rolling with a penalty in the ninth minute while Pretorius managed to land a long-range penalty six minutes later to level the scores at 3-3.

But that was the only joy for the Cats in a stop-start first 40 minutes as the Chiefs and Randle in particular took the game away from the leaden-footed hosts.

Randle scored the first of his tries in the 20th minute when he capitalised on sloppy Cats defence, catching them off-guard with a kick tap penalty five yards out in the 20th minute.

Jackson added the conversion and the Chiefs led 10-3. The second of Randle's tries was an absolute beauty with the speedster receiving the ball out wide 65 metres out and racing through some admittedly shameful defence.

Jackson converted and then added two more penalties to give the Chiefs a handy 23-3 lead.

The Cats did manage one moment of brilliance in an otherwise shocking first half display when Pretorius scored a magical try. The silky-skilled flyhalf received the ball 10 metres out and with the Cats going backwards after some tigerish Chiefs defence, before cleverly chipping over the advancing defenders and chasing through for the score.

He then dusted himself off and added the conversion but at 23-10 the Chiefs looked good at half-time for an away win.

Scorers:

Cats - Tries: Andre Pretorius, Jorrie Muller, Dean Hall; Conversions: Pretorius (2); Penalties: Pretorius (2).

Chiefs - Tries: Roger Randle (2), Karl Te Nana; Conversions: Glen Jackson (3); Penalties: Jackson (4), David Hill.