Player Movement

Apr 3 • General News, Guinness Pro14 • 3708 Views • Comments Off on Player Movement

Free State Cheetahs (Pty) Ltd is delighted to announce that the contracting committee have so far finalised and signed 23 player contracts for the next season and or beyond.

Currently more negotiations with senior players in the present group and from outside the province, are taking place and will soon be finalised.

New exciting names added to the list are the fly halves Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Louis Fouche and loose forward, Aidon Davis. Benhard joined the Toyota Cheetahs for training on Tuesday while Davis and Fouche will report in Bloemfontein on 1 July 2018.

Benhard Janse van Rensburg

Fly half, Benhard Janse van Rensburg has joined the Toyota Cheetahs on Tuesday, 3 April in Bloemfontein.

Benhard was included in 2016 in a South Africa Under-20 training squad, but wasn’t initially included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship tournament in Manchester, England. Midway through 2016, Janse van Rensburg joined the Sharks. He was included in their squad for the 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division, but instead made two appearances for the Sharks U21 in the 2016 Under-21 Provincial Championship. At the end of October 2016, Van Rensburg was included in the Sharks Super Rugby squad for the 2017 season.

Date of birth – 14 January 1997 / Height – 1.85 m / Weight – 88 kg

Louis Fouché

Louis Fouché will be joining the Toyota Cheetahs at the start of July after returning from the Kubota Spears in Japan.

The Pretoria born, Fouché started his rugby career in Potchefstroom where he represented the Leopards at the u.19 and u.21 Absa Competitions and joined the Blue Bulls in 2011 for Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup. He played SuperRugby from 2012 to 2015 for the Bulls.

Fouché was one of the first 20 players that the South African Rugby Union contracted to represent the Kings in the 2016 Super Rugby season. He Fouché played in the Japanese Top League for two seasons.

Date of birth: 4 January 1990 (age 28) / Height: 189 cm / Weight: 98 kg

Aidon Davis

Davis joined the Eastern Province Academy in 2013. He was included in the Eastern Province Kings’ Vodacom Cup squad and made his first class debut. He was then called up to the South Africa Under-20 squad and included for their tour to Argentina in preparation for the 2013 IRB Junior World Championship.

On his return to South Africa, he made his Currie Cup debut for the Eastern Province Kings and the following week, Davis made his Super Rugby debut when he was substituted in Kings’ final match of the 2013 Super Rugby season against the Sharks.

For the second season in succession, Davis was included in the South Africa Under-20 side that competed at the IRB Junior World Championship in New Zealand, also being named one of two vice-captains for the tournament.

Davis joined the Top 14 side Toulon for the 2016–2017 seasons and played for Bayonne the following season.

Date of birth: 29 April 1994 / Height: 191 cm / Weight: 100 kg

Contract Extensions

Besides these players, the following players extended their contracts with the Toyota Cheetahs for the 2018/19 Guinness PRO14 season or beyond.

Dian Badenhorst, Jacques du Toit, Luan de Bruin, JP du Preez, Lloyd Greeff, Elandré Huggett, Malcolm Jaer, Nico Lee, Daniel Martens, Rabz Maxwano, Tian Meyer, Ali Mgijima, Junior Pokomela, Sibabalo Qoma, William Small-Smith, Ernst Stapelberg, Boan Venter, Reinach Venter, Shaun Venter, Dennis Visser.