A year has come and gone, and now we face a “rugby drought” until Super 15 kicks off mid February 2013. It is the “dry season” as far as rugby news goes, so am sure most of us are getting withdrawl symptoms. Hopefully this will solicit some debate or scorn.
I list the possible contenders for props in the Cheetahs 2013 Super Rugby group. The Cheetahs seem to have a penchant for grooming young props, with most of the contenders still puppies as far as props go.
Props:
Schalk Willem van der Merwe:
Age: 22 years – 04 December 1990
Vital Statistics: (H) 183 cm (W) 115 kg
Schalk was born in Tzaneen. He has come through the ranks of Cheetahs rugby, having represented the union at u/18 Academy Week in 2008, and in the same year, the SA Schools Academy team. He went on to represent the Free State at u/19, u/21, Vodacom Cup, and Currie Cup in the 2012 season. Though still young, he has stood his man in the scrums, and a bright future lays ahead of him.
Caylib Rees Oosthuizen:
Age: 23 years – 01 September 1989
Vital Statistics: (H) 186 cm (W) 115 kg
Born in Cape Town, Caylib started representative rugby with SWD in 2007 at the Academy week, and was also part of the SA Schools Academy team. He was signed by the Lions after being spotted in the Varsity Cup. He was selected for the 2009 Junior Bok squad, for the IRB Junior World Championship. Having already played Currie Cup and Super rugby with the MTN Lions, Caylib is sure to benefit from the mentorship of Os du Randt.
Victor Coenraad (Coenie) Oosthuizen:
Age: 24 years – 22 March 1989
Vital Statistics: (H) 183 cm (W) 127 kg
Coenie has been in the Cheetahs system since 2005, representing Free State Schools at the 2005 Grant Khomo u/16 tournament. He also played u/18 Craven week in 2006 & 2007, as well as SA Schools in 2007. He has represented the Free State at every level possible since.
Coenie has had quite a distinguished career thus far, having represented the Junior Boks at the 2009 IRB Junior World Championship. Interestingly enough, he had by then already played Super Rugby for the Cheetahs. He was part of the Springbok squad, in 2010 on the EOYT tours, but only made his Bok debut in 2012 vs England. He has been the Cheetahs go to man, in the scrums for a few seasons already. If he can shake off the injury bogey, he will be the Cheetahs anchor in the scrums.
Pieter Rossouw de Klerk:
Age: 23 years – 21 August 1989
Vital Statistics: (H) 186 cm (W) 116 kg
Born in Vredenburg, and a product of Paarl Gymnasium, Rossouw represented WP at the u/16 Grant Khomo week in 2005. He then moved to the Bulls straight out of school, and has represented the Bulls at u/21, Vodacom Cup, Currie Cup and Super Rugby.
Trevor Ntando Nyakane:
Age: 24 years – 04 May 1989
Vital Statistics: (H) 178 cm (W) 117 kg
Trevor was born in Bushbuckridge, and finished high school at Ben Vorster in Tzaneen, He represented Limpopo at the Craven week at both u/16 and u/18 levels. Straight from school, he was drafted into the Cheetahs setup. He has already represented the Cheetahs at u/19, u/21, Vodacom Cup, Currie Cup, and in 2012 he played Super Rugby.
Lourens Cornelius Adriaanse:
Age: 25 years – 05 February 1988
Vital Statistics: (H) 180 cm (W) 115 kg
Born in Cape Town, Lourens is another Paarl Gym player. He is the younger brother of Lions prop Jacobie, who is now playing in Europe. He started his representative rugby in 2004 at the u/16 Grant Khomo week for the WP. He went on to represent WP at Craven week u/18, WP u/19, WP u/21, WP Vodacom Cup. He starred for Maties in the Varsity Cup, and was subsequently selected for the SA Students team in 2009. He was contracted by Griquas in 2011, and has become a regular anchor in their front row. He has also represented the Toyota Cheetahs in Super rugby.
Willem Andries Stephanus (Steph) Roberts:
Age: 28 years – 28 March 1985
Vital Statistics: (H) 188 cm (W) 118 kg
Born in Bloemfontein, Steph is another old Grey’s product. He represented Free State at the 2003 u/18 Craven Week, and was selected for the SA Schools and for the Junior Boks in 2004. He made his provincial debut in 2005 for the Cheetahs u/19 and Vodacom Cup teams. He signed for Griquas in 2008, and played for the Royal XV against the touring British & Irish Lions. He had a good season with Griquas in 2012.
Considering the Cheetahs have lost the services of players like WP Nel (Edinburgh) and Marcel van der Merwe (Bulls), the Cheetahs have a nice group of young props to choose from, providing decent depth in the frontrow
There should be a fair bit of competition on the LH side, as Coenie has stated that he will prefer to play exclusively tighthead for the Cheetahs. Nyakane might be a good bet, having already played Super Rugby, however Steph Roberts, and Caylib Oosthuizen will push him hard. On the TH side, we can safely bank on Coenie starting if fit, with the solid Adriaanse or the promising de Klerk as back up.
All things considered, the Cheetahs look well covered at prop. The available players are all strong scrummagers, as well as fairly mobile, which fits in well with the Cheetahs expansive game plan.
You guys have a great signing in Caylib Oosthuizen.
VRYSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!
@ Lion4ever,
Agreed, I reckon if Coenie is fit, then Caylib will slot in at LH, Strauss and then Coenie at TH. Quite a formidable front row. With Steph Roberts/Nyakane backing up at LH, and Rossouw/Adriaanse at TH.
I am keen to see the other SA franchises props. Sharks have a good starting frontrow, but depth could be a problem. Bulls have gained Marcel, but other than that, are still stuck with Kruger and Greyling.
Stormers have Kitshoff, Verbrokkel, Cilliers and Malherbe.
Poor Queens!
Good article promoting your props Cheetah, from what have heard it sounds like losing Marcel vd Merwe will be a big loss for you but then again you have gained De Klerk from the Bulls, remember this is an area I know little about (ok yes yes I know you’re thinking I don’t know much about rugby fullstop
) so which of the two I’ve mentioned would you rate more. As you say I guess a lot will depend on Victor Oosthuizen (or Coenie) and how or if he has fully recovered from his injury and do you think he can successfully make the conversion from loose head to tight head. Will be not need more energy for scrumming at tighthead and so maybe need to decrease his workload in the loose or do you think he will be a good flatout 60 minute player or maybe even supersub?
Ahh also meant to say its good to see the name Bushbuckridge crop up, now thats a name from the past used to go up there quite often, so you have a good man in Nyakane looks like he has worked his way up through the ranks at Free State. Will be interesting to see how he and indeed the other props you have mentioned get on next year.
Howdy Bully,
the thought never crossed my lips 
I heard that a move to TH will be preventative of more injuries, in Coenie’s case, but Loosehead will be the resident pro on prop play lol. Marcel was a loss imo, but I haven’t seen enough of Rossouw to judge as yet. I was very impressed with Marcel’s progress this year. I would have prefered keeping Marcel, as he is also a very mobile unit, much like Coenie.
Coenie hasn’t really shown that he runs out of puff, despite his high workrate, but we will see if a shift to TH does indeed have that effect.
3 @ Cheetah4eva:
Has Malherbe not moved to the Southern Kings?
No wait, I’m thinking about Schalk Ferreira, who’s moved from Province to the Kings.
Kitskos & Pat Cilliers will make a very, very good front row, not much depth beyond that with Verbrokkel & Malherbe.
@ GBS,
Jip, Schalk Ferreira, moved to the Kings end 2011, and they also have Schlechter, Jaco Engels, and anotheryoung ex Free State prop.
8 @ Cheetah4eva:
Did you see I edited your original Article, the photograps were not all under one another and of the same width. Kindly attend to that for your further Articles, we are also doing the hookers this week.
Next week we will do locks as one article & loosies as another.
The week thereafter it’s the turn of Scrumhalves in one article and flyhalves in another and the week thereafter we do Centres in one article and the
Back three” in that week’s 2nd article.
Yes, I also noticed that, and edited it, not quite sure why it does that, as in the edit mode it was all well spaced.
Glitch I guess. Well, you also need to work I guess lol.
I will be ready, with the hooker article, who si doing the Sharks and Stormers articles, they are lagging a tad! Hee hee
10 @ Cheetah4eva:
You need to size the pictures BEFORE uploading and insering them. I’ve sized all your images to 120 pixels wide, does not matter if the height differs a bit. You’re in the IT business, so I don’t need to explain to you how to re-size Jpegs. If you PREVIEW the article before publishing, you can see where the spacing is a problem, then change it until the preview is fine, before publishing it. WordPress’ Edit window is what we have, warts & all, so we have no choice but to work with it and within it’s parameters.
The Hooker articles we must publish on about Thursday.
I’ve asked Just For Kicks to do the Stormers ones and will mail Tjarkie_Fornever now to attend to the Sharks ones for us.
I will have to do the freegin Southern Kings ones, so I’ll do the Props tonight… eish
Lol, has no supporter of the Kings volunteered as yet?
12 @ Cheetah4eva:
Do they have supporters?
Hehehe
Man, those poor buggers are in for a torrid year. They might be okayish for a few matches, but as the injury toll mounts, the wheels are going to come off in spectacular fashion. Pity about Marcel’s injury, he was in good shape, before doing his knee.
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