After dominating the early stages of the tournament, the Airlink Pumas as well as the Toyota Cheetahs have slumped to several disappointing results. The defending champions could fall down the rankings if they lose to the Free Staters in Nelspruit this Saturday at 17h00.
The Toyota Cheetahs will secure home advantage for the semi-finals if they beat the Airlink Pumas this weekend. If they succeed in Nelspruit, they will watch the final game of the round with interest, and hope that the Fidelity ADT Lions do them a favour by ending the Cell C Sharks’ six-game winning streak.
Airlink Pumas made only one change to his starting line-up. The only change is up front where Simon Raw replaces Njabulo Gumede at tighthead.
Toyota Cheetahs head coach Hawies Fourie has named his line-up who will travel to Mbombela.
"I have confidence that we'll find our rhythm. There were a lot more positives against Griquas than in the Sharks' game," said Hawies Fourie.
"We would like to rectify our record against the Pumas. They have improved over the last three years and are the defending champions. We respect them but want to turn the tables this weekend."
"Every game, we go out and give it our all to show that we are the best pack on the field. So this weekend will be the same story, we will go out, we want to dominate our set pieces, and we want to dominate our contact on attack and defence. We look forward to showing that we are a better team after all." Said Friedle Olivier, eight-man of the Toyota Cheetahs.
Loose forward Jeandre Rudolph and prop Conraad van Vuuren have recovered from injury; Rudolph will start from the bench while van Vuuren is in the starting lineup.
Teams:
Airlink Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Andrew Kota, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9. Giovan Snyman, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Franna Kleinhans, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (c), 4 Deon Slabbert, 3 Simon Raw, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Cameron Dawson. Replacements: 16 PJ Jacobs, 17 Dewald Maritz, 18 Etienne Janeke, 19 Malembe Mpofu, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Gene Willemse, 23 Jaco Labuschagne.
Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Reinhardt Fortuin, 11 Cohen Jasper, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Friedle Olivier, 7 Sibabalo Qoma, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (c), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jeandre Rudolph, 20 George Cronje, 21 Daniel Maartens, 22 Evardi Boshoff, 23 Robert Ebersohn.