Cheetahs not taking the winless Bulls lightly

In Round 5 of the Carling Currie Cup, the Toyota Cheetahs travel to Pretoria to face the Vodacom Bulls XV at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday. Kick-off is at 15:00, with the action live on SuperSport channels 201 and 211.

With three rounds remaining before the semi-finals, every log point is becoming increasingly valuable as teams battle for a place in the Carling Currie Cup Premier Division play-offs.

Coach Frans Steyn said the team was pleased with the five-point win in Cape Town but knows there is still plenty of work to be done.

“It was good to get a win in Cape Town, especially given the weather conditions. We are happy with the five points but there is still a lot of work for us to do as a unit. The Bulls have a bunch of talented young players and if they are switched on, on the day, we need to be at the top of our game. We’ve worked hard this week and hopefully we’ll have a good one on Sunday.”

Cheetahs captain Neels Volschenk believes the team’s ability to stay composed and fight until the final whistle is a sign of its growth.

“We learned a lot from our game against the Griquas. It was good to see that we took those learnings, especially the patience to finish the game off, into our match against the Stormers.

“The nice thing about this team is that it shows how far we’ve come. I don’t think there has been a point in the last season when we’ve felt like we are out of it. Even if there are two or one minutes left on the clock, we still feel we can win the game. There’s no doubt about that.

“We tried to keep the ball in play for as long as possible and I have to take my hat off to the team for staying in it, not losing faith and not giving up.

“We’ve had our fair share of games that we’ve lost in the final moments, so the win against the Stormers gives us a lot of confidence.”

Steyn has made several changes to the starting XV for Sunday’s encounter with Pierre Uys (back), Vice Hofmeyr (shoulders), Ntokozo Makhaza (knee), Louis van der Westhuizen (ankle), Gideon van der Merwe (lower leg), Munier Hartzenberg (knee), Henry Immelman (knee), Ben Pitout (shoulder), Clayton Blommetjies (concussion), Faf de Klerk (shoulder), Ethan Wentzel (shoulder), Juan Venter and Marco Jansen van Vuren (sternum/chest), Siya Ningiza (lower leg), Carl Wegner (calf) and Frankie Dos Reis (knee) all out injured.

The referee for the match is Jonathan Lottering. He will be assisted by Hanru van Rooyen and Juan de Bod while the TMO is Egon Seconds.

Next up for the Cheetahs is a clash against the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers in Bloemfontein next Sunday at 3pm.

Toyota Cheetahs starting XV: 15 Cohen Jasper, 14 Michael Annies, 13 Jooste Nel, 12 Zander du Plessis, 11 Prince Nkabinde; 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Rewan Kruger; 8 Neels Volschenk (capt), 7 Simon Miller, 6 Daniel Maartens; 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Arno van der Merwe; 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Juan Smal, 1 Tebogo Nkosi. Replacements: 16 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 17 Tielman Niewoudt, 18 John-Kelly Okonkwo, 19 Curtly Thomas, 20 Sisonke Vumasonke, 21 Jandre Nel, 22 Tiaan Swanepoel, 23 De-An Ackermann.