The Cheetahs have announced an unchanged matchday 22 for their second home game of the 2013 Super Rugby campaign against the disjointed Rebels on Saturday.
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Following their successful Super Rugby tour of Australasia, Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has opted not to tamper with his winning formula when the host the Melbourne based side at the Free State stadium this weekend.
Winning three of their four games abroad, the Cheetahs ended their tour on a high and will hope to carry that momentum through to their second home match of the season.
One positive for the Cheetahs was the return of Springbok flanker Heinrich Brussow to the starting line-up in their 19-10 victory over the Western Force last week. After recovering from a prolonged shoulder injury, he will again feature against the Rebels on Saturday.
“Heinrich is very positive about his comeback and he played his first 80 minutes last week and did very well,” Drotske said after naming his team on Wednesday.
“We spoke about not rushing him back and that is what we’ve done.
“He is a world class player that slows down possession and gets the turnovers.”
Drotske believed the absence of the Rebels’ star playmaker, Kurtley Beale, and Cooper Vuna would have no effect on the touring side’s plan of attack.
Both players were sent home after a reported altercation on the team bus following their 64-7 loss to the Sharks in Durban last week.
“We still don’t expect anything less than a huge performance from the Rebels,” Drotske said.
“The Sharks set the bar pretty high, beating them comprehensively in Durban, so they will be out to rectify that.”
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 Johan Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Riaan Smit, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Phillip van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (Captain), 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Coenie Oosthuisen, 18 Rynhard Landman, 19 Johannes Prinsloo, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Ryno Benjamin.
Date: Saturday 30 March
Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Kick-off: 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson
Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Stefan Breytenbach
TMO: Johan Greeff
Cheetahs kan die Rebels goed bliksem hierdie naweek!
Cheetahs will definitely beat the Rebels, it is just by how much. I had Sharks by 10 and they beat Rebels by 57 points….
also feel if we never made all the changes after 55min we just may have had 80 past them. So how much must we put Cheetahs win margin by on bru?
Going with a safe 20 if it is less or more won’t be caught out too much like I was with my margin with the Sharks game…. 🙂
Wonder when Jake will announce the Brumbies team?
Whoa folks! The Cheetahs are[much like the Sharks] well know for losing the games that they should win.
Don’t put a pox on them now.
Rebels
1 Nic Henderson2 Ged Robinson3 Paul Alo-Emile^4 Hugh Pyle5 Luke Jones6 Gareth Delve7 Jordy Reid^8 Scott Higginbotham9 Nick Phipps10 Angus Roberts11 Jason Woodward12 Lachlan Mitchell13 Mitch Inman14 Richard Kingi15 James O’Connor16 Shota Horie17 Laurie Weeks18 Cadeyrn Neville19 Jarrod Saffy20 Scott Fuglistaller21 Nic Stirzaker22 Rory Sidey23 Tom English
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