Rugby
Cheetahs make four changes for Lions battle─── 13:39 Tue, 21 Apr 2015
The Toyota Cheetahs have made four changes to their team which will face the in-form Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
While Cheetahs display during their 18-17 loss to the Reds after leading the game 10-3 at half-time was far from convincing, Naka Drotské has been forced to ring the changes due to injury, especially to key players.
Tienie Burger gets a starting role in the place of Heinrich Brüssow who is out injured with a broken arm and this sees Carel Greeff of the Griquas drafted onto the bench.
Joe Pietersen who has played at flyhalf all season starts at fullback in the place of Springbok Willie le Roux (injured ankle) and Coenie van Wyk (fractured ankle) who are both side-lined for a lengthy period with ankle injuries.
His sees Clayton Blommetjies back on the replacement bench after playing Vodacom Cup rugby last week.
Willie du Plessis who has been deputising for Pietersen all season, gets his second start of the campaign at flyhalf, with his only other start being against the Sharks on 14 March when Pietersen had flu.
In the front-row Caylib Oosthuizen comes back into the squad on the bench with BG Uys ruled for a few weeks with a back niggle, this sees Danie Mienie starting at loosehead.
Captain Francois Uys said their intensity is an aspect of their game they want to lift against the Lions.
“Our intensity wasn’t great in the second half, first half the defence was really good, second half maybe we just slipped too many tackles around the edges or they caught us off guard with pick-and-goes where they made two-three metres and that kept us on the back foot.
“The Reds kicked the ball into our corners extremely well and as I said in the second half we really struggled to get attacking lineouts and we struggled to get out our half for periods of time and that always puts a lot of pressure on a team,” said Uys.
Saturday afternoons’ match at Emirates Airlines Park kicks off at 17:05.
Toyota Cheetahs – 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Cornal Henricks, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Rayno Benjamin, 10 Wille du Plessis, 9 Sarel Pretoris, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Boom Prinsloo, 6 Tienie Burger, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3, Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Danie Mienie.
Replacements – 16 Stefan Coetzee, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Maks van Dyk, 19 Steven Sykes, 20 Carel Greeff, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Michael van der Spuy, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.
Morgan Piek / OFM News
