The Toyota Cheetahs will play in their 24th Currie Cup semi-final when they take on the Vodacom Bulls in Toyota Stadium on Saturday, 17 June at 15h00. Coach Hawies Fourie made only one change to the starting line-up. Ruan Pienaar, who will be starting on flyhalf replacing Siya Masuku, is injured.
This will be the two team’s fourth Currie Cup semi-final encounter. The Free State’s first Currie Cup semi-final was against the Northern Transvaal on 21 August 1954 when Northern Transvaal beat the Free State 9-8 at Springbokpark in Bloemfontein. Fifty-four years later, the sides met in a semi-final on 13 October 2007 when the Cheetah beat the Bulls 11-6 in Bloemfontein, and the following year the Bulls were victorious, winning 31-19 at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria. A 19-year-old Robert Ebersohn was part of the Cheetah team in 2008.
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. Siba 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. Louis van der Westhuizen, 17. Alulutho Tshakweni, 18. Hencus van Wyk, 19. Jeandre Rudolph, 20. George Cronje, 21. Daniel Maartens, 22. Evardi Boshoff, 23. Robert Ebersohn.