The Toyota Cheetahs will head down to Cape Town this weekend with their third skipper in as many weeks. After missing the first match through injury, Juan Smith lasted a scant 2 minutes of the Bulls game before limping off with an Achilles injury that will keep him on the sidelines until August.
With stand-in skipper, hooker Adriaan Strauss, also unavailable, the mantle of leadership now falls upon flyhalf Naas Olivier, who has had a fair bit of captaincy experience leading Griquas in the Currie Cup. The Cheetahs have benefited from continuity amongst the backs, with exactly the same backline named as the one which started against the Bulls. Philip Snyman was, of course, a late change in that lineup for namesake Philip Burger. The former retains the right wing berth along with another Sevens veteran, Rayno Benjamin on the left.
There are changes up-front, though, with the loose forwards thoroughly reshuffled to account for Smith’s absence. Last week’s MVP, Ashley Johnson, comes in at number 8, with Kabamba Floors moving to the open side and Francois Uys occupying Smith’s vacant number 7 jersey. A former Stormers player in lock Martin Muller comes onto the bench in the number 18 jersey.
Cheetahs:
15. Hennie Daniller, 14. Philip Snyman, 13. Robert Ebersohn, 12. Andries Strauss, 11. Rayno Benjamin, 10. Naas Olivier (captain), 9. Sarel Pretorius, 8. Ashley Johnson, 7. Francois Uys, 6. Kabamba Floors, 5. Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4. Waltie Vermeulen, 3. WP Nel, 2. Rayno Barnes, 1. Coenie Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16. Skipper Badenhorst, 17. Kobus Calldo, 18. Martin Muller, 19. Philip van der Walt, 20. Tewis de Bruyn, 21. Sias Ebersohn, 22. Riaan Viljoen
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Nice to see Francois Uys starting again, what a legend!
Naas is baas.
The Martin Muller George Earl combo used to strike fear into the hearts of opposition…Sorry what?Oh.
As you were
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 3) :
Think Ashley Johnson may give the Stormers a run for their money this week. Watch this space, as they say!
@McLovin (Comment 2) : In sy eie kosblik. 🙂
@KSA Shark © (Comment 6) : Meneer, wat is n’ kosblik, asseblief? Ek is n’ soutie en my Afrikaans is nie so goed nie… (Jammer)
@SharonvanWyk (Comment 7) : Lunchbox.
@SharonvanWyk (Comment 7) : 🙂
@KSA Shark © (Comment 9) : @McLovin (Comment 8) : Ahh. So if you kick someone in the kosblik it won’t actually hurt
? Unless, of course, there are eiers in it? 😆
@SharonvanWyk (Comment 10) : And you said your afrikaans wasn’t good. 😆
@KSA Shark © (Comment 11) : OK, mayhaps I was not entirely truthful. But I honestly couldn’t be bothered to google “kosblik” and had a blonde moment. I learnt die taal through a process of osmosis and a burning desire to understand what my former in-laws were skinnering about. Naturally, I learnt all the bad stuff first!
Ai…not looking good for the Cheetahs…
Naas must step up…hopefully being captain will be the push he needs…he was actually quite good in the Currie Cup…
Hennie playing very well…
Ashley looked very good off the bench…
Centre pair holding their own and looking good…
The rest need to step up on their play…else it is going to be another long year…
@Hmmm (Comment 15) :
How do you go from being Cheetahs Player of the year to starting from the bench??
Only in Bloem I tell ya!! 🙄