The Toyota Cheetahs will host Tafel Lager Griquas for the second time in two weeks in Bloemfontein with the kick-off scheduled for 14h30. The Cheetahs scored a 38-26 victory over Griquas a week ago in Bloemfontein, in a Currie Cup 2022 warm-up match.
It will once again be a very competitive game early on, however, do not expect the Cheetahs to allow the Griquas to make a comeback in the second half. The Cheetahs led with 38-12 with twelve minutes left on the clock before two late tries by Griquas made the score somewhat respectable.
Toyota Cheetahs head coach Hawies Fourie included his two most experienced players, Ruan Pienaar and Frans Steyn in their opening line-up.
An exciting back three in Clayton Blommetjies, Craig Barry and Enver Brandt will be looking to run the Griquas defence to tatters.
A worrying fact for the Cheetahs coaching staff must be the long injury list that forced his hand to include newcomer Chris Smit at flyhalf. Several Cheetahs stalwarts find themselves on the bench who is crucial for the Cheetahs onslaught on the Currie Cup 2022 title.
The following players were not eligible for team selection due to injury: Jeandre Rudolph (knee), George Cronje (knee), Duncan Saal (bicep), Branden de Kock (knee), Rosko Specman (knee), Reinhardt Fortuin (knee), Aranos Coetzee (bicep), Cameron Dawson (ankle), Daniel Kasende (knee), Cohen Jasper (shoulder) and Siya Masuku (return to play protocol).
“The Toyota Challenge helped us a lot with our preparation for the Currie Cup. Every player in the group got some game time and Ruan played for the Sharks. The main thing was to see everyone play and to know who our best players in each position are and the players gained confidence.” Said, Coach Hawies Fourie
“It has been a close contest against the Griquas in the last couple of games and we want to rectify that. We have a quality team and I feel that we owe it to ourselves to do well on Saturday.”
“We have an exciting team and a tough challenge first up. We have a lot of respect for the Griquas but we’ve prepared well so far this week.”
“We know we have to be clinical and hopefully, we can keep the majority of the squad fit this year. Thankfully we don’t have Covid-cases as we did at the start of last season so we have a decent squad to pick from. The guys are excited to go and hopefully we can start well on Saturday.” Said captain, Ruan Pienaar.
The newly-appointed head coach of Griquas, Pieter Bergh was tasked to rebuild a Griquas side that played in the 2021 Currie Cup semi-finals. Several if not most of their stars left the Union at the end of 2021.
He named an inexperienced side with twelve players who will be making their debut for Griquas while eight players will make their Currie Cup debut. Seven of the players that were included in the starting line-up for Saturday did not start last weekend while only Mzwanele Zito did not form part of the 29 man squad last weekend.
Weather: 23° Celsius with little or no wind and light drizzle expected.
Prediction: The Toyota Cheetahs with 20.
Toyota Cheetahs: 15. Clayton Blommetjies, 14. Craig Barry, 13. David Brits, 12. Frans Steyn, 11. Enver Brandt, 10. Chris Smit, 9. Ruan Pienaar (c), 8. Mihlali Mosi, 7. Aidon Davis, 6. Gideon van der Merwe, 5. Victor Sekekete, 4. Rynier Bernardo, 3. Marne Coetzee, 2. Marnus van der Merwe, 1. Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16. Louis van der Westhuizen, 17. Alulutho Tshakweni, 18. Conraad van Vuuren, 19. Sergio Moreira, 20. Andisa Ntsila, 21. Rewan Kruger, 22. Robert Ebersohn, 23. Malcolm Jaer.
Tafel Lager Griquas: 15. Ashlon Davids, 14. Munier Hartzenburg, 13. Chris Hollis, 12. Rynard Jonker, 11. Luther Obi, 10. Zander du Plessis, 9. Stefan Ungerer, 8. Ruan Steenkamp (c), 7. Siba Qoma, 6. Niel Otto, 5. Derik Pretorius, 4. Mzwanele Zito, 3. Janu Botha, 2. Alandre van Rooyen, 1. Eddie Davids. Replacements: 16. Janco Uys, 17. Kudzwai Dube, 18 Justin Forwood, 19. Johan Retief, 20. Michael Amiras, 21. Reagan Oranje, 22. Theo Boshoff, 23. Sango Xamlashe.