Coach Hawies Fourie announced a brand new starting lineup to face Barcelona Diables this afternoon @ 17h30 in Bloemfontein. He made it clear that they are using the Toyota Championship to prepare for the Currie Cup which is rumoured to start in January 2022.
“Before the start of the Toyota Challenge, we decided that we will give the whole squad a run. So, we selected this team more than a week ago to play against the Diables.” Said, Coach Hawies Fourie.
“After Wednesday’s match we’ll decide about the Sharks- and Baia Mare games. For me it is just worth it to give everyone game time, to see where you stand with all the players and to get them match-fit and ready for the Currie Cup.
“We are disappointed in our performance against Western Province and we want to lift the standards and play decent rugby. It is an opportunity for the guys playing tomorrow to put up their hands and to show what they can do.”
“I believe that we prepped well for a team that we don’t necessarily know, but we’ll go out there and express ourselves the best way we know how and play our brand of rugby. We’ll be focusing on ourselves.” Said Oupa Mohoje, Captain of the Toyota Cheetahs.
Toyota Cheetahs: 15. Lesley Botha, 14. Mosolwa Mafuma, 13. Evardi Boshoff, 12. Howard Mnisi, 11. Enver Brandt, 10. Brandon Thomson, 9. Zinedine Booysen, 8. Oupa Mohoje (c), 7. Jeandre Labuschagne, 6. Lohan Potgieter, 5. Reinier Viljoen, 4. Sergio Moreira, 3. Hanro Jacobs, 2. Janus Venter, 1. Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16. Wilmar Arnoldi, 17. Cameron Dawson, 18. Beertjie van Vuuren, 19. Thembelani Bholi, 20. Gideon van der Merwe, 21. Tian Meyer, 22. Siya Masuku, 23. Cohen Jasper.
Players not eligible for selection:
Due to injury - Mox Moxoli (wrist), Andisa Ntsila (neck), Jeandre Rudolph (knee), George Cronje (knee), Duncan Saal (bicep), Malcolm Jaer (ankle), Branden de Kock (knee), Craig Barry (hamstring), Marnè Coetzee (calf), Clayton Blommetjies (ankle), Chris Smit (quad) and Rosko Specman (knee).
Other rugby obligations – Aranos Coetzee and Louis van der Westhuizen (playing for Namibia), Frans Steyn (Springboks), Ruan Pienaar (on loan to Sharks), Junior Pokomela (on loan to Stormers).
