Cheetahs going to Loftus aware of different Bulls team

In the last year, the Free State Cheetahs have had the number of the Vodacom Blue Bulls, beating them empathically in the Currie Cup at Loftus Versfeld and then grabbing a narrow win at the Free State Stadium in the first round of the Super Rugby Unlocked.

This weekend the Free Staters will travel up north to face off with Jake White’s men in Pretoria. Cheetahs coach, Hawies Fourie has noted that this game will be a different ball game as compared to their previous triumphs as the Bulls are a different beast.

“We beat them last year but that was a different team, and they had all their Springboks at the World Cup. They are a different team, with a lot of new acquisitions made this year. They are a very strong team.

Last year’s game won’t mean anything. We have to pitch and execute well if we want to beat them. The Bulls are a team that’s on top of the log. But we have beaten them in the first round in Bloemfontein, and that gives us hope,” said Hawies Fourie when speaking to Four Sports.

Carl Wegner will continue as captain in the absence of Junior Pokomela. Leading the Cheetahs in the Currie Cup for Wegner is a ‘massive honour and career highlight’. The big lock has urged his troops to draw inspiration from their first-round win and try to counter the Bulls strength which the forward pack and Morne Steyn.

“Well, we know the Bulls have a physical pack, that’s their go-to in every game; they want to go forward through them and dominate the other team. For us, we want to have a good game, so we have to match them up front. It’s going to be a forwards game on the day. We need to put a lot of pressure on Morne Steyn, we saw in the first game how we can put pressure on him and match the forwards; we can win against them, “said Wegner.

The Cheetahs begin the defence of their Currie Cup in the fourth position and are in healthy contention to make the playoff.

“I’m happy with our log position we’re in the top four, which was our aim in the Super Rugby competition. We would have liked to play against the Lions, if we had won that game, we would have been in second place, but it did not happen,” said Fourie.

Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 Howard Mnisi, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Carl Wegner (captain), 4 Ian Groenewald, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Boan Venter. Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Erich de Jager, 19 Chris Massyn, 20 George Cronjé, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 William Small-Smith.