Cheetahs

Super RugbyIn December 2013 and January 2014 we looked at Squad Contenders in the SA Super Rugby participating franchises. This tiime we will focus on the SA Conference Coaches for Super Rugby 2014.

We’ll have a look at all the head coaches and briefly their assistant staff, for the various South African Super Rugby franchises.

We look at their history and discuss their coaching styles and speculate about what can be expected.

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Southern KingsLong-serving Southern Kings player Darron Nell is back as captain and relishing a return to the loose forward department when his side take on the Cheetahs in a Super Rugby warm-up match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

The Kings will not be involved in the Super Rugby competition this year, having lost to the Lions in a promotion playoff last year. However, they were still determined to give a good account of themselves in the pre-season clash.

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CheetahsJean CookJean Cook, imported from the Bulls in the off-season, has jumped ahead of Sevens Springbok Johannes Prinsloo in the Cheetahs loose forward queue.

Cook, who started his career with the Cheetahs where he made only one senior appearance before switching to the Bulls in 2012, is set to fill the gap left by injured Bok openside flank Heinrich Brussow.

It has been confirmed that Cook will start – alongside Pieter Labuschagné and Philip van der Walt – as the Cheetahs’ first-choice loose trio against the Southern Kings on Saturday.

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CheetahsWillie Le RouxSpringbok fullback Willie le Roux will be rested from the Cheetahs’ two warm-up matches in Port Elizabeth this week, according to reports.

Le Roux fell on his shoulder during the Cheetahs’ warm-up game against Shimlas last week. He is not badly injured but won’t be risked for games against NMMU (Tuesday) and the EP Kings (Saturday).

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Cheetahs

This is the 8th and last in the series of Cheetahs Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We did 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for BACK THREE in the Toyota Cheetahs 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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Cheetahs

This is the 7th in the series of Cheetahs Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for MIDFIELD in the Toyota Cheetahs 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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Heinrich BrüssowThe Toyota Cheetahs will have to do without Heinrich Brüssow for the opening 6 rounds of their 2014 Super Rugby season after the loose forward tore a ligament in his toe.

The Springbok flank, who was due to return to the Cheetahs to take part in this year’s Super Rugby competition, sustained the injury while playing his first season for Japanese club Docomo Red Hurricanes.

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CheetahsAfter seven lean years, in which their highest finish was 10th, the Cheetahs finally made the 2013 Super Rugby play-offs. Now they are ready to raise the bar once more.

Cheetahs assistant coach Hawies Fourie is confident they have the squad to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish – when they were knocked out in the quarterfinal stage by the Brumbies.

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Super RugbySuper Rugby teams will step up their preparations for the upcoming season and shake off some rust in pre-season friendlies in the coming weeks.

Preparing for the gruelling Super Rugby tournament, which gets underway on 15 February and culminates on 2 August, is not an exact science.

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CheetahsThe Cheetahs will head off the beaten track during their pre-season build-up, as they look to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish in Super Rugby.

Cheetahs assistant coach Hawies Fourie confirmed to this website that one of their pre-season games – against the new Currie Cup team, the Pumas, on February 1 – will be played in the Free State town of Parys, a town situated on the banks of the Vaal River in the Free State province.

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Cheetahs

This is the fifth in the series of Cheetahs Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for SCRUMHALVES in the Toyota Cheetahs 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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Cheetahs

This is the second article in the series of Cheetahs Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.

We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for HOOKERS in the Toyota Cheetahs 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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CheetahsIn the first week of discussion of Super Rugby squad contenders for 2014 (23 to 29 December), we will discuss 2 positions in seperate Articles (Props & Hookers) and also seperate the Articles of the 5 SA Super Rugby participating franchises.

That means 10 Super Rugby Articles every week from now on.

The basic idea is to discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.

In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS in the Toyota Cheetahs 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.

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Super RugbyIn 2013 the whole Lions side did not take part in Super Rugby, however some of their frontline players were out on loan with other South African Super Rugby franchises. In addition a number of South African players were injured for most of, if not all, of Super Rugby in 2013, whereas some seasoned campaigners did not take part in the Currie Cup, due to injury.

Amongst the Stormers, we can look forward to seeing Schalk Burger, Peter Grant and Jaco Taute back in Super Rugby, whilst Demetri Catrakilis will be determined to make his switch from the Southern Kings to the Stormers, a memorable one.

Amongst the Sharks there will be a total rebirth in the coaching and administrative setup, with John Smit now the CEO of the Sharks, Jake White the Head Coach and Director Of Rugby and a totally changed coaching formula, having replaced John Plumtree. Then there is also the return to Super Rugby of Frans Steyn (who was in France in the 2013 Super Rugby season) and maybe Ryan Kankowski will be back as well. In addition there is the addition of some Southern Kings imports, like SP Marais and Justin Downey and if rumours could be believed, even the possible addition of Luke Watson.

At the Bulls we will see the return to the field of Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann, Francois Hougaard, Louis Fouché as well as a possibility that Victor Matfield and Derick Hougaard could make their return to Super Rugby. In addition Bandise Maku, Vleis Engelbrecht and David Bullbring were added with their migration from the Southern Kings.

The Cheetahs will have Johan Goosen back at pivot and the luxury of some astute buys from elsewhere in South Africa. They will have the services of Heinrich Brüssow back at openside and their whole squad will be richer for the experience they garnered in 2013.

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Cornal HendricksProlific try scorer and Blitzbok stalwart, Cornal Hendricks, finally gets to don the Cheetahs jersey. The Toyota Cheetahs iniatially contracted Hendricks for this year’s Super Rugby, but a dispute arose with SARU, as Sevens coach Paul Treu wanted Hendricks for the Sevens circuit. It now seems that Hendricks’ wish of playing for the Cheetahs will come true.

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has confirmed that Hendricks has signed a contract for the 2014 Super Rugby and Currie Cup season.

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ABSA Currie CupDHL Western Province and The Sharks on Saturday booked their places in the Absa Currie Cup final in Cape Town next week following well-deserved victories in their semifinals against the MTN Golden Lions and Toyota Free State Cheetahs respectively.

Defending champions, Western Province, automatically earned a home final with their 33-16 victory against the Lions at DHL Newlands after finishing the round-robin stages as the top team, while the Sharks defeated the Cheetahs 33-22 at Growthpoint Kings Park in Durban.

Next week’s match-up will mark the second successive showdown between the teams in the Absa Currie Cup final, while it will also mark the Sharks’ fourth successive final appearance.

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ABSA Currie CupIt is just before the Semi-Finals of the Currie Cup Premier Division competition of 2013 in South Africa.

Only 4 teams are still in it to win the competition.

Put your skills to the test here to predict who will eventually walk away with glory and the bragging rights in the competition for 2013. Voting is open to Readers and Registered Subscribers of Rugby-Talk.

 

[poll id=”4″]

 

Voting for the Poll will close just prior to the advent of the 1st Semi-Final, on Saturday 19 October 2013.

ABSA Currie CupSo, we find ourselves close to the end of yet another great Currie Cup season, but don’t get sad because there are still 5 big Currie Cup clashes left – 2 Promotion / Relegation matches, 2 semi-finals and the BIG Currie Cup final.

Our starter for the weekend will be a Promotion / Relegation match on Friday evening between GWK Griquas and Steval Pumas in Kimberley. This will be followed by two main courses on Saturday. The one course will be served Newlands style with a side of “big hits”, whilst the second course will be served Kings Park style with a side of “open and running rugby”. Desert will be a choice between pure bliss or extreme sadness, depending on main course selection.

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SharksFrancois SteynThe Shark have named close on their strongest starting line-up for Saturday’s Absa semi-final clash with Free State as they look to emulate four of the past five campaigns.

The Sharks featured in the 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012 finals and will be hoping to make it a fifth appointment (seeking their third victorious campaign after titles in 2008 and 2010) this year if they can see off Free State’s challenge.

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ABSA Currie CupThe round-robin stages of the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division this weekend reached an exciting conclusion, as DHL Western Province maintained their unbeaten run to retain the No1 spot on the log, while the Toyota Free State Cheetahs and MTN Golden Lions secured their semifinal berths.

DHL Western Province will host the MTN Golden Lions in the first semifinal in Cape Town next Saturday, while The Sharks will meet the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in Durban in the other pay-off match.

The Lions and Cheetahs finished the league stages level on 26 log points thanks to the four-try bonus point bagged by the Johannesburg team in their clash against GWK Griquas.

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