Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has a firm message for all of those writing off his team’s hopes in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby finals series – we are not done.
Drotske and his team arrived in their plush Coogee Beach base in Sydney, where they will be until Friday before heading south to Canberra by bus as they prepare to take on Jake White’s Brumbies side in their playoff match.
SuperSport
But while this is very new territory for the Cheetahs players and fans, Drotske is adamant that his side need to realise they haven’t achieved their goals in the competition just yet.
After years of disappointment, this year the Cheetahs have added a solid defensive structure to their play, and ensured they were one of the form teams of the competition with their exhilarating brand of rugby throughout the season, something that earned them a spot in the Finals series – their first time ever in the playoffs.
And as newcomers it would be easy to simply accept the spot and write it off as a good season – their best ever in Super Rugby, but Drotske isn’t accepting that concept.
The Cheetahs coach believes the hunger is there, and has already started preparing his side for a massive crack at the Brumbies to try and score a big upset this weekend.
Drotske said the quest for success would spur teams on in the future, but he isn’t throwing in the towel yet.
“I am positive about the future of Free State rugby. We have a bright future ahead of us, and I’m really focused that we have the right mindset,” he explained, adding that the team need to be in the right frame of mind throughout their preparations in Sydney this week.
“We haven’t reached our goals yet in this competition – there are a lot of people congratulating us and saying ‘Well done, this has been a great season.’ This is the biggest challenge, to get the players to realise that we are not finished. But watching them it is exciting, to see they want to win, they are not done.”
While the Cheetahs ultimately prefer facing an Australian side in the competition playoffs rather than a New Zealand one, Drotske knows the challenge will be a massive one for his team.
“The bottom line is that if you get to the top six, you are guaranteed a tough game. There are only top sides left in the competition. The advantage of staying in South Africa is the fact that you don’t have to travel, but still to play the Bulls at Loftus is also a tough task. We prepare on our own stuff and we work on what we can control the outcome of.”
Still it is worth noting the Cheetahs did well this year in Australia – beating the Waratahs and Force this year – while last year they narrowly lost to the Brumbies 24-23, thanks to a dubious decision by referee Keith Brown that cost them a famous victory.
The Cheetahs did go on the week afterwards to beat the Rebels, but some defensive lapses ultimately cost them last season as they had a poor home run and missed out on any chance of making the playoffs.
This year, though, they have upped their game and combined their attacking strength with strong defence and a more accurate kicking game, with the combination of the three allowing them to win games they would have lost in the past.
And considering the pressure is off them and they have little to lose, the underdog status will suit them quite well ahead of this weekend’s showdown.