The Cheetahs host the Blue Bulls in Bloemfontein on Saturday, and have named a reasonably brave team to take them on, with only two changes from the near second string team that played the Leopards last weekend.
Philip Burger returns to the bench as Riaan Smit replaces him on the right wing, while Boom Prinsloo gets relieved of his duties and will only be able to make an impact off the bench as Ashley Johnson has been named starting eighthman.
This does mean that Sias Ebersohn will remain on the bench as Johan Goosen gets another run in the pivot slot, this time against the Blue Bulls, as we are likely to see two young pivots hit it out as Louis Fouche is likely to play ten for the Bulls.
The interesting head to head in this game though, will be the front row battle as Coenie Oosthuizen continues on the tighthead side and with youngster Marcel van der Merwe playing in the loosehead side. They will face up to Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger in what should be an epic battle.
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Riaan Smit, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Philip Snyman, 11 Cameron Jacobs, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Philip van der Walt, 6 Pieter Labuschagne, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Francois Uys, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Philip Burger
Wow!! Backing Goosen ahead of Ebersohn for the Bulls is a brave move indeed. I hope it pays off for them…
@Viking (Comment 1) : They are resting him for the bigger games.
@Viking (Comment 1) :
The Bulls pivot is kak, so playing Goosen against him is a brave but well thought out move..
@war1 (Comment 2) : LOL
Cheetahs by 5. Bulls are sh1te.
Wouldn’t have minded seeing what Prinsloo can do on the side of the scrum. He’s going to need to be versatile if he wants to make the S15 squad. Outside of that they desperately need a 4th lock, but think Drotske is on the right path here.
How often do flyhalves really tackle or interact with their opposite numbers?
Maybe Drotske is sending the Blue Bulls a very clear message of what he thinks of them by not selecting his #1 flyhalf?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 6) :
Well a flyhalf doesn’t tackle or interact with his opposite number much… but a flyhalf does make a heck of a lot of tackles. A lot more then people would think
Probably has to do with most flyhalves only running the ball a couple of times a game, in SA at least. 
Sias is good but hasnt been as good as s15 ,his brother is better imo
@Talent (Comment 8) :
I’d say they’ve both been sort of average. Defense is 50% of the game, and they both can’t defend to save their lives at this stage.
Sias also had some performances in the S15 that made me think he could be a dark horse for the Bok squad if there were injuries. At the very least they were on par. Would almost say Sias had the better season.
@hendrikp (Comment 7) : Yip agree. I am just saying that I don’t think Goosen is playing just because his opposite number is a newbie.
@hendrikp (Comment 9) : The 13 defence is good ,the guy is a great player . His brother can realy play great rugby aswell but lets be honest the cheetahs forwards this cc…
A bad scrum will hurt your wings
@Talent (Comment 11) :
Both Ebersohn brothers are terrible on defense. They were both somewhere near the top of the ‘missed tackles’ chart for the Super 15. Not far behind Sarel Pretorius & Bjorn Basson.
I think they are both really good players. They just need a lot of work on defense. By that I mean Naka needs to drill them. They need to focus on it.
Naka is getting on my nerves now, can he not see that Catakilis is not playing either this weekend… Who does he expect me to pick @ FH in FL if Sias is on the bench… Hope he get’s this memo