The Toyota Cheetahs are travelling to Cape Town to face DHL Western Province in the first match of their Carling Currie Cup second round. The action at the DHL Cape Town Stadium will kick off at 16:45 with a live broadcast on SuperSport.
This will be a special match for the 34-year-old tighthead prop, Johan (Aranos) Coetzee, who has played in just over 100 matches for the Toyota Cheetahs.
Aranos, a real anchor in the Toyota Cheetah scrum, played in 22 Super Rugby (2016-'17)-, and 23 Currie Cup matches for the Toyota Cheetahs.
Coetzee is the first South African rugby player to represent a SA franchise in 50 Pro14 matches. He played in 52 Pro14 games for the Toyota Cheetahs between 2017 and 2020.
He was also involved in the Promotion / Relegation match for Currie Cup status against the SWD in 2018. In 2021, he wore the Toyota Cheetah No. 3 jersey in four games in the Preparation Series.
Aranos has also been playing Test rugby for his home country, Namibia, since 2015, and was in the World Cup teams of 2015 and 2019. He has already played in 25 Tests for Namibia.
He made his first-class debut in 2010 for the Currie Cup team of the Leopards (11 games) before he made his way to Europe. He played for two French clubs - Racing Metro (2010-'12: 12 games) and Brive (2012-'15: 62 games) before joining the Toyota Cheetahs in early 2016.
The following players are not eligible for team selection due to injury: George Cronjè (knee), Branden de Kock (knee), Rynier Bernardo (shoulder), Enver Brandt (groin), Malcolm Jaer (ankle), Craig Barry (knee), Clayton Blommetjies (knee) and Siya Masuku (cold/flu).
Toyota Cheetahs: 15. Cohen Jasper, 14. Daniel Kasende, 13. David Brits, 12. Frans Steyn, 11. Rosko Specman, 10. Reinhardt Fortuin, 9. Ruan Pienaar (c), 8. Jeandré Rudolph, 7. Andisa Ntsila, 6. Gideon van der Merwe, 5. Victor Sekekete, 4. Aidon Davis, 3. Aranos Coetzee, 2. Louis van der Westhuizen, 1. Alulutho Tshakweni. Relacements: 16. Marnus van der Merwe, 17. Cameron Dawson, 18. Marne Coetzee, 19. Ockie Barnard, 20. Mihlali Mosi, 21. Rewan Kruger, 22. Brandon Thomson, 23. Robert Ebersohn.