Toyota Cheetahs take on Cardiff Blues at home

Oct 27 • General News, Guinness Pro14 • 1097 Views • Comments Off on Toyota Cheetahs take on Cardiff Blues at home

The Toyota Cheetahs are highly-motivated to get their first victory of the season when they face Cardiff Blues on their home ground in their round seven Guinness PRO14 match.

Coach Franco Smith has announced his team for Saturday evening’s clash. The action kicks off at 19:15 SA time with a live broadcast on SuperSport 1, Premier Sports and S4C.

Gates open at 16:00 and supporters can watch the Currie Cup final between Western Province and The Sharks on a big screen at the Castle Deck. Entertainment for the day includes Suzzi Swanepoel who will be performing live at the Castle Deck before and after the match and 5FM DJ’s Pascal & Pearce on the upper level behind the main stand. As a special surprise to supporters, the Free State Youth Wind Ensemble will be performing before and during the match in the stadium.

The Toyota Cheetahs will be supporting the local beauty, Margo Fargo with this match as she is representing South Africa in the Philippines at the Miss Earth pageant. This is a call to action to agree and pledge that #WastestopswithMe. A call is going out to the city, province and country to come fill up the Toyota Stadium to make this a historically memorable day filled with purpose and fun.

Tickets are R40 for the main stand and R30 for the open stand. Students and kids pay R20 and kids under 7 get a free ticket from the ticket office. Tickets are available from the ticket office in Toyota Stadium or online at www.fscheetahs.co.za.

All three previous encounters between the two sides have been won by the home team on the day with the Blues winning two, while the Toyota Cheetahs emerged victorious in Bloemfontein. Al three encounters, however, were decided by no more than five points – the last of which was the Cardiff Blues’ 24-21 victory against the Toyota Cheetahs in Wales in September.

“The players have matured a lot from where they started off this season. There has been growth and experience. We are now able to look back at certain points of reference in games we’ve played this season,” said Coach Franco Smith. “We make up for lack of experience through enthusiasm.”

“We work together as a team and we embrace the responsibility to play the supporters back into the stands. The winning-mind-set is important. The team has gelled together during the last two months and instead of individual efforts, it will take a team effort to get a win and we look forward to the challenge ahead.”

· William Small-Smith will be earning his 50th cap for the Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday

· Rhyno Smith, Reinach Venter and Sintu Manjezi will be making their Guinness PRO14 debuts when they set foot to field.

Toyota Cheetahs

1 Ox Nche

2 Joseph Dweba

3 Aranos Coetzee

4 Walt Steenkamp

5 JP du Preez

6 Gerhard Olivier

7 Junior Pokamela

8 Neil Jordaan

9 Shaun Venter (C)

10 Tian Schoeman

11 Rabz Maxwane

12 William Small-Smith

13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg

14 Rhyno Smith

15 Malcolm Jaer

16 Reinach Venter

17 Charles Marais

18 Erich de Jager

19 Sinthu Manjezi

20 Abongile Nonkontwana

21 Tian Meyer

22 Louis Fouche

23 Nico Lee

The referee for the match is Lloyd Linton (SRU, 24th competition game). He will be assisted by Quinton Immelman (SARU) and Ruhan Meiring (SARU). The TMO is Johan Greeff (SARU).

The following players are not eligible for team selection due to injury:

Quintin Vorster (ankle), Ntokosa Vidima (wrist), Dries Swanepoel (shoulder), Oupa Mohoje (knee), Luan de Bruin (ankle), Jasper Wiese (shoulder), Lloyd Greeff (ankle), Sibabalo Qoma (ankle), Ryno Eksteen (knee) Jacques Du Toit (knee).