Toyota Cheetahs riding high ahead of Chiefs clash
Colin Bourke of the Chiefs charges forward during the round 11 Super 14 match between the Chiefs and the Cheetahs at Waikato Stadium on April 23, 2010 in Hamilton, New Zealand. Photo by Hannah Johnston
Morgan Piek – After spending a few hours with the Toyota Cheetahs this morning one thing was as clear as day, these boys are in high spirits! They have reason to be as well. After a highly successful tour of Australasia, as well as beating arch rivals the MTN Lions last weekend, we can only expect them to be super charged up.
This coming Saturday, the men from Bloemfontein will be facing-off against the Chiefs from Hamilton, New Zealand. Currently the Chiefs are the leading New Zealand team in Super Rugby this year and are second overall on the combined log, trailing the DHL Stormers by a mere two points.
One thing the Chiefs have proven this year is the ability to strike very hard and quickly out of nowhere. The Chiefs have probably got the most dangerous midfield combination in Super Rugby this year. All Blacks Sony Bill Williams and Richard Kahui are two of finest centres around in world rugby – a duo that combines incredibly well. Neutralising these two would be the key for the Cheetahs to win their third game in succession.
Last season when Sonny Bill Williams played the Christchurch based outfit, the Crusaders, the Toyota Cheetahs were the only team in the competition able to subdue the multitalented centre. Their strategy was fairly simple and it worked, neutralise the man Sonny Bill offloads to. The same approach will be adopted by the Cheetahs against the Chiefs. However, Naka Drotske is well aware of the fact that Sonny Bill is a more mature player and his famous offloads are fewer yet more effective. Richard Kahui is a much classier midfielder than Sonny Bill’s centre partner last season, Robbie Fruean.
That is one side of the coin, the other side of the coin belongs to the Cheetahs in the form of their midfield consisting of Andries Strauss and Robert Ebersohn. Andries is one of the leading defenders in this year’s tournament, while Robert Ebersohn of 2011 is a fracture of the Robert Ebersohn in 2012.
Naka Drotske has stuck to his guns and kept his best frontrow combination, Coenie Oosthuizen and WP Nel. If one thinks Saturday will be battle in the midfield, don’t be fooled in thinking this will be a walk in the park from the word go. Coenie Oosthuizen will have the arduous task of packing down against the colossal Ben Tameifuna. While Oosuhuizen weighs in at a staggering 127kgs, he will be scrumming against the “human-bulldozer” Tameifuna who tips the scales at an unbelievable 138kgs.
This will be a battle Coenie will have to win in order for the Cheetahs to launch their highly dangerous backline. Rugby is built around the old adage – “The forwards win the game, the backs determine the margin of victory”. Saturday will be a perfect example of this, because whichever teams forward dominates will walk off as victors after eighty minutes.
A very interesting battle would have been between the brilliant young All Black Aaron Cruden and the Cheetahs very own super flyhalf Johan Goosen, however this is not to be. Goosen picked up a shoulder injury last week against the Lions when Elton Jantjies put in a dangerous tackle on the former Grey College boy.
Even though Goosen had a good practice session today, the team physiotherapist JP du Toit mentioned to me that he will be starting off the bench regardless of whether or not he passes a final fitness test on Friday morning. As the leading points scorer in this year’s Super Rugby competition, Goosen is probably the most valuable player in the Cheetahs outfit at the moment. However, it would not be in the Cheetahs best interest to risk further injury to Goosen. Sias Ebersohn has been named the starting flyhalf and it is most likely to start that way come Saturday evening 17:00. Should Goosen not pass the fitness test and not even make the bench, the Shimlas flyer Cameron Jacobs will make his way onto the bench.
Piet van Zyl has been named ahead of Tewis du Bruyn at halfback. When Tewis comes off the bench on Saturday he will be making his 50th appearance in Super Rugby. Van Zyl will have his hands full as well in the form of Tawera Kerr-Barlow. Kerr-Barlow has by far been the most exciting halfback in New Zealand this year and has been described by former Wallaby hooker turned commentator Phil Kearns as “a pest”. Being a former halfback myself, you cannot get a better compliment than to be called “a pest” by a hooker. As we all know a hooker is “a pest” or a “bliksem” in his own rights.
Ashley Johnson finds himself warming the bench again after a few good games. When asked about this decision, Naka replied by saying “Ashley is most valuable as an impact player”. As much as I don’t want to admit it, Naka has a very valid point. For some or other inexplicable reason Ashley climbs into a shell when he starts a game and tends to make a lot of mistakes.
As fierce of an opponent as the Chiefs will be this coming Saturday, the Cheetahs stand a very good chance of beating the New Zealanders in what will without a doubt be a highly entertaining game. The Cheetahs have managed to beat another very good New Zealand outfit in Wellington when they taught the Hurricanes a rugby lesson or two in their last tour game abroad.
With the kind of team spirit I witnessed this morning, the Cheetahs should be able to pull off another win provided they carry this same team spirit into the game and concentrate on their defensive effort. The Cheetahs had an outstanding defensive game against the Lions. I will go as far as to say that the Cheetahs defended as well as any DHL Stormers team in the past three seasons.
The Toyota Cheetahs team is as follows:
1. Coenie Oosthuizen, 2. Adriaan Strauss (captain), 3. WP Nel, 4. George Earle, 5. Izak van der Walt, 6. Heinrich Brüssow, 7. Justin Downey, 8. Phillip van der Walt, 9. Piet van Zyl, 10. Sias Ebersohn, 11. Willie le Roux, 12. Andries Strauss (vice-captain), 13. Robert Ebersohn, Ryno Benjamin, Hennie Daniller.
Replacements:
16. Hercu Liebenberg, 17. Trevor Nyakane, 18. Andries Ferreira, 19. Ashley Johanson, 20. Tewis du Bruyn, 21. Johan Goosen, 22. Phillip Snyman.
Related Posts
« Lambie returns to face the Blues Crusaders team to play the Stormers »
