There were surprises aplenty as Naka Drotske announced his 30 man squad, for the 2012 Super Rugby tournament.
The biggest surprise will no doubt be the ommission of veteran stalwart Ryno Barnes, the Griquas hooker, he was surprisingly usurped by Hercu Liebenberg, younger brother of Stormers hooker, Tiaan.
Other surprise ommissions were Johan Wessels, with Justin Downey doing enough to get the nod. Riaan “True Blue” Smit, makes way for Boland import Willie le Roux, and not surprisingly, Phillip Burger makes way for Cameron Jacobs.
The Squad:
LH: Coenie Oosthuizen, Marcel van der Merwe
HK: Adriaan Strauss, Hercu Liebenberg
TH: WP Nel, Lourens Adriaanse & Trevor Nyakane
4L: Francois Uys, Andries Ferreira
5L: George Earl, Izak vd Westhuizen
6: Heinrich Brussow, Justin Downey & Pieter “Lappies” Labuschagne
7: Phillip vd Walt, Ashley Johnson
8: Davon Raubenheimer
SH: Piet van Zyl, Tewis de Bruyn
FH: Johan Goosen, Sias Ebersohn
11: Cameron Jacobs, Rocco Jansen
12: Andries Strauss, Phillip Snyman
13: Robert Ebersohn, Barry Geel
14: Dusty Noble, Rayno Benjamin
15: Hennie Daniller, Willie le Roux
Juan Smith (injury) and Waltie Vermeulen (study requirements) will not tour, but are part of the wider squad. Coenie Oosthuizen will go on tour and should be ready for the 1st tour match against Jake White’s Brumbies. All in all the squad is fairly balanced, but the Cheetahs will have to step it up quite a few gears from their shoddy performance vs the Bulls.
Coenie Oosthuizen will make a massive difference in the scrums, but the major concern was the performance of the lineouts. They were good against the Stormers, so either it was a bad day at the office, or the Bulls lineout is just that good! Other than that, the squad is pretty much as expected, excep for the surprise ommissions mentioned above.
Rayno Barnes, ROTFLMFAO!
Surely there is a better wing?
Otherwise the squad is ok.
Lol, jy weer op jou stukke vanoggend Loskoppie? Was nogal verbaas, want van Vuuren was laas jaar voor Hercu in die pecking order. Dalk is hy beseer? Verder lyk die span heel goed. Hoop net hulle kan die lynstaan spel uitsorteer. Dink nog steeds, Naka is besig om die Nulle ‘n mielie te rol. Die Cheetahs was glad nie op standaard Saterdag nie. Hulle kan eerder hul swak wedstryd in die oefen wedstryde speel.
2@ Cheetah4eva:
I think that Liebenberg is an investment in the future.
2@ Cheetah4eva:
What has happened to Boom Prinsloo?
Boom is with the SA 7’s team. Will be able to join after the 7’s circuit is done end May
5@ Cheetah4eva:
Bloody hell! 7’s or proper rugby……………….what a waste.
Noooooo! where is PW van Vuuren?? way better option than Liebenbergh and why 4 wings and 4 locks and 6 loose forwards???? better to have 3 hookers and 3 scrumhalves.
@ Loosehead #6
Agree, but with Juan likely to be back after the tour, and with Johnson, and Phillip vd Walt there, Boom was always going to sit on the bench. I would play him at 8, in Raubenheimers place.
A trio of Brussow, Juan/vd walt, and Boom/Johnson would be more to my liking
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