- Team: 15. Kurtley Beale, 14. Lachlan Mitchell, 13. Mitch Inman, 12. James O’Connor, 11. Mark Gerrard, 10. Danny Cipriani, 9. Nick Phipps, 8. Gareth Delve (c), 7. Michael Lipman, 6. Jarrod Saffy, 5. Hugh Pyle (vc), 4. Luke Jones, 3. Rodney Blake, 2. Adam Freier, 1. Nic Henderson
- Replacements: 16. Ged Robinson,17. Laurie Weeks,18. Alister Campbell,19. Tim Davidson,20. Richard Kingi,21. Julian Huxley,22. Lloyd Johansson
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- Team: 15. Rudi Wulf, 14. Lachie Munro, 13. Benson Stanley, 12. Ma’a Nonu, 11. Rene Ranger, 10. Gareth Anscombe, 9. Alby Mathewson, 8. Brad Mika, 7. Daniel Braid, 6. Chris Lowrey, 5. Ali Williams, 4. Filo Paulo, 3. Charlie Faumuina, 2. Keven Mealamu (C), 1. Tony Woodcock
- Replacements: 16. Tom McCartney,17. Tevita Mailau,18. Liaki Moli,19. Dan Pryor ,20. Piri Weepu,21. Michael Hobbs,22. Hadleigh Parkes
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Unfortunately, the Sharks have suffered an injury blow, as winger Odwa Ndungane returns home to Durban due to an adductor injury (groin). He is out for the rest of their tour of New Zealand.
The Beeld newspaper reports that Mitchell might call up young 19-year-old junior Springbok Paul Willemse as they prepare for the Cheetahs match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Willemse would become the sixth lock in five games to represent the Lions this year after injuries and poor form have meant that Mitchell has had to ring the changes.
Cheetahs team up, and it’s a very good lineup!
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Ashley Johnson, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 George Earle, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Andries Ferreira, 19 Justin Downey, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Philip Snyman
@ Cheetah4eva:Good to see Johnson not having to pick splinters out of his backside for the first 40 minutes!
4 @ JFK,
Oh yes, it’s a bonus,though to be fair to Naka, Ash has been notoriusly slow out of the blocks in every year. And it was a brave call to let him do the impact role, until he hits his straps. Also glad to see that van Zyl is being unleashed, another good call by Naka, to 1st surround Goosen with old hands.
The form of vd Walt is also encouraging, he is a player that is touted as a Juan protege in Bloem, so it will be awesome if he gets going. The Cheetahs should edge this encounter. They are more settled, more balanced, and have more pace than was the case in Jhb, round 1.
The Lions selections are a bit puzzling, Minnie, has been good, and to throw a youngster into a must win game is odd. Impressive specimen though, if the stats are indeed correct 199 cm and 135 kg’s!
Still think the Cheetahs should dominate the set phases, and territory, and their running and handling has been sublime!
Cheetahs by 10
@ Cheetah4eva:
That’s more like it hey!!…Nice Cheetah team. Going to be a cracker as both teams would like to prove they are the better team.
Is Mitchell brave or just scraping the barrel? To put so many young u/21 players on the paddock at once, could be inspirational, like with Coetzee, Caylib Oosthuizen, and Tiaan Meyer, or it could blow up in his face in a cauldron match!
Johan Willemse will take the two steps up from u/21 and Vodacom cup level straight into Super 15! Ditto for Ruan Dreyer. Now I am thinking it was easy for an exceptional talent like Johan Goosen, but surely it’s a tad tougher for a prop and a lock? Then again Eztebeth, has been a monster for the Stormers, nice controlled aggression.
Anyway, with Mark Lawrence holding the whistle, he could well again be the most watched player on the field. In the last match between these two teams, he was racking the whistle to the tune of a penalty every 3 minutes!
Some mouth watering clashes:
Coenie vs Cilliers advantage Cheetahs
Strauss vs Bezuidenhout advantage Cheetahs (he has been prominent)
WP vs Caylib advantage Cheetahs
Earle vs Willemse advantage Cheetahs (haven’t seen Willemse, going on experience factor)
vd Westhuizen vs vd Merwe even
Brussow vs Varkhond advantage Cheetahs
Johnson vs Minnie even
vd Walt vs Strauss even
In the scrums and lineouts the Cheetahs are more settled, and should have more of the ball.
van Zyl vs Meyer Haven’t seen much of Meyer
Goosen vs Jantjies slight advantage Cheetahs
Le Roux vs van rensburg even
Strauss vs James even
Ebersohn vs Hollenbach even
Benjamin vs Coetzee adv Cheetahs on experience
Daniller vs Taute even
Backs way up pretty evenly, but as a unit the Cheetahs are surely going to be more settled, and have a better understanding. If they get more possession, and that gloryboy Lawrence can contain himself long enough to build momentum, the Cheetahs backs are sure to find their ay to the whitewash.
Bench:
Nyakane vs Dreyer adv Cheetahs (more experience so far)
Liebenberg vs Visagie even
Ferreira vs Coetzer even
Downey vs Oosthuizen adv Cheetahs
Tewis vs Bondesio adv Cheetahs
Sias vs Kamana slight adv Cheetahs if replacing 10
Snyman vs Sick note Mapoe adv Cheetahs
Just my opinion, Cheetahs to take it by 10
7@ Cheetah4eva:Having read that, Guess who I am going to go for on Bru……and by a big margin!!!!
Lol, as long as you don’t come looking for me afterwards lol
Seriously though, if the Cheetahs lose this, they will kick themselves. The same return fixture last year, saw them spanking the lions soundly!
REMEMBER – First match of the weekend is TOMORROW 11.40 am. Make sure your picks are in!!!!!!!
Reds
1. Ben Daley
2. James Hanson
3. James Slipper
4. Rob Simmons
5. James Horwill (c)
6. Beau Robinson
7. Liam Gill
8. Scott Higginbotham
9. Will Genia
10. Sam Lane
11. Rod Davies
12. Ben Tapuai
13. Aidan Toua
14. Dom Shipperley
15. Luke Morahan
16. Albert Anae
17. Greg Holmes
18. Radike Samo
19. Van Humphries
20. Eddie Quirk
21. Nick Frisby
22. Dallan Murphy
Force
1. Pek Cowan
2. Nathan Charles
3. Salesi Ma’afu
4. Toby Lynn
5. Nathan Sharpe
6. Richard Brown
7. David Pocock (Captain)
8. Matt Hodgson
9. Brett Sheehan
10. Ben Seymour
11. Alfie Mafi
12. Winston Stanley
13. Nick Cummins
14. Samu Wara
15. David Harvey
Reserves
16. Elvis Taione
17. Kieran Longbottom
18. Phoenix Battye
19. Ben McCalman
20. Josh Holmes
21. Rory Sidey
22. Patrick Dellit
Hellooooooooooo
Back from Oudtshoorn… in a few pieces…
Had to pack my liver in a seperate suitcase, a big one…
Man, I’m getting very old to party this hard… but I feel years younger… hehehe
Mmmmmm, I can leave on holiday again… the site was in fine hands in my absense….
@ grootblousmile:Howzit GBS, trust it was brilliant
15 @ Just For Kicks:
Excellent!
Marvelous!
But man, I need rest tonight… things went on into the small hours of the morning each of the 2 nights!
Music was good, company was good, food was great…. KKNK rocks as far as I’m concerned!
I will mention this again on the first live game thread, but if rumours are to be believed, Catrakilis off to London Irish, F du Preez coming back to the Bulls, and the best news of all, my favourite player, Hougie, coming home to Cape Town. Now all of those would really make my Easter if they were true!
grootblousmile wrote:
16@ grootblousmile:….and you’re going out this w/end to buy yourself a gold Posrche Boxster. Hahahaha
Mornings all!
Long time no speak.
So, the Sharks will have to it for mu Bru then….I had the 11 point margin spot on yesterday but all to no avail, flippin’ useless Blues let me down big time.
Never again, I am done with them.
Hoert djulle hiere, slaap djulle nog,GBS, wass die game threat ou maat???
@ Pietman:ja, I don’t know, will put up a tempory one
@ Just For Kicks:
Cheers bru.
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