AFP - Springbok halfbacks Morne Steyn and Fourie du Preez played crucial roles as the Blue Bulls held off a fiery Free State Cheetahs comeback to win the Currie Cup final 36-24 on Saturday.

Fly-half Steyn, the deadliest goal kicker in southern hemisphere rugby union this year, missed just one of eight shots at the posts as he contributed 21 points at Loftus Versfeld, including a trademark drop goal.

Du Preez, widely rated the best scrum-half in the world, created the three Bulls tries scored by wings Bryan Habana, who dotted down twice in his final appearance for the Pretoria side, and Francois Hougaard.

Success in the South African inter-provincial championship final completed a memorable year for the Bulls, who trounced the Waikato Chiefs of New Zealand at the same venue this year in the Super 14 final.

Another one-sided decider seemed on the cards midway through the opening half before a capacity 55,000 crowd when a Bulls team starved of possession grew fat of scraps to build a 24-0 lead.

Cheetahs, who reached the final despite losing their first four mini-league games, once again demonstrated never-say-die spirit to score two converted tries within five minutes.

A Steyn drop goal on the stroke of half-time left the Bulls 27-14 in front at half-time despite having had only 25 percent possession and making four times more tackles than the Cheetahs.

Steyn landed an early second half penalty before lock Nico Breedt barged over for a Cheetahs try that fly-half Jacques-Louis Potgieter converted and he added a drop goal to reduce the deficit to six points with 48 minutes gone.

On the collar of each Cheetahs jersey the words "greatest comeback ever" were printed to remind the Bloemfontein-based players how far they had come after a disastrous start to a 16-match campaign.

But with a Springbok-packed Bulls team staggering in front of their faithful followers, Cheetahs failed to deliver further blows and indiscipline crept into their game.

Steyn kicked a penalty, missed one to prove he is human after all, and planted another between the posts to give the Bulls a 12-point advantage they retained until the final whistle.

Whatever chance the Cheetahs had of snatching victory disappeared with six minutes remaining when replacement hooker Richardt Strauss was sent to the 'sin bin' after testing the patience of referee Jonathan Kaplan once too often.

And in a fitting finale to a great game, official man of the match Du Preez banged the ball into touch, the final whistle sounded, fireworks lit the night sky, and Pretoria prepared to party.

Steyn kicked four penalties, a drop goal, and converted the tries of Western Stormers-bound Habana (two) and Hougaard for the Bulls, whose last outright Currie Cup success came five years ago.

Flanker Frans Viljoen, centre Corne Uys and Breedt crossed the tryline for 2007 champions Cheetahs, all of which Potgieter converted before adding a drop goal.