With Coenie Oosthuizen out injured, and Phillip van der Walt being rested, the chances are good that Marcel van der Merwe, who had a stellar Vodacom Cup tournament for the Cheetahs, and promising young flanker Lappies Labuschagne will get selected for the weekends clash with the Bulls.
Young Labuschagne, was earmarked for a debut earlier in the season, but a shoulder injury has prevented him from getting a start. It will be a baptism of fire versus the Bulls in Pretoria, for the young players, but they are surely up for it.
At last the Super 15 can restart, the test window in between wasn’t ideal, and is sure to cause disruption in some teams ranks, as far as injuries go. Luckily for the Cheetahs, Meyer with his blue shades didn’t see merit in using Brussow, so at least he will be raring to show the error of that decision, and what better platform, than Meyers beloved Bulls to make a statement. Another loss will be a massive blow to the Bulls!
Nyakane will have to step up, to fill big boots. Coenie was a revelation in his 1st start, and will be sorely missed by the Cheetahs. So a possible team to face the Bulls:
Nyakane, Strauss, WP Nel, George Earl, Izak vd Westhuizen, Brussow, Francois Uys, Johnson, van Zyl, Sias Ebersohn, Le Roux, Strauss, Ebersohn, Jansen, Smit
Bench: Hercu Liebenberg, Marcel vd Merwe, Andries Ferreira, Labuschagne, Justin Downey, Tewis de Bruyn, Phillip Snyman
Will Naka be brave enough to give Sias another shot at redemption against an equally uninspiring Morne Steyn? With Smit at FB, they can switch if Ebersohn still struggles with form. Le Roux, and de Bruyn are also able goal kickers. Giving Francois Uys a run at 7, could be a good move, as he is a very underrated, and physical player, which gives the Cheetahs an additional lineout option.
The Bulls were poor vs the Stormers, and will be looking to bounce back, but what toll did the tests take on their stars? By contrast, the Cheetahs had an extra week off, courtesy of a bye in the last week of Super rugby, prior to the test window.
Go Cheeeeetahs!!
Thats quite a few new/young guys there, wish them all well Cheetah but not too well for the next game, they can fire on all cylinders after that
Interesting to note you mention out of a possible starting team you guys seem to have quite a few reasonable goal kickers, that is some luxury to have. Don’t worry Morne will be back and this time next week the debate will be going well why couldn’t he kick like that for the Boks, well that is what I’m hoping for anyway. Also hoping Brusouw will be rusty and not match fit after his lay off so while it could work against the Bulls having players maybe tired after playing for the Boks it could also have helped keep them match sharp, and certainly in Potgieter’s case it helps now that he has had some game time after his injury which he wouldn’t otherwise have had. Remember playing for the Boks cost you Coenie Oosthuizen so that will be a big loss. Ralapelle will be rested but possibly not match sharp whereas Strauss got some playing time but don’t know if it was long enough to help keep the fitness levels up. The big worries with forwards is the amount of game time Juandre Kruger and Spies have had, hopefully they are not too weary on their return to the Bulls camp. I think vd Merwe and Werner Kruger didn’t get a lot of time so they should be reasonably fresh. Oh well thats not even getting to the backs, we could be here for a while discussing things but not enough time for that, so roll on Saturday.
1@ Cheetah4eva:
A big pity Steggman won’t be there to counter Brusouw on Saturday
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