The South African Player of the Year was omitted from the 25-man squad for the short tour to the Far East.

This paves the way for former captain, Francois Uys, to return to the starting XV after playing off the bench against the Stormers.

This has also seen Reniel Hugo make a return after he was rested last week during the second round.

The team wraps up their preparations on Tuesday before jetting off to Singapore on Wednesday.

Coach Franco Smith told OFM Sport that they are going there for business and there will be no time for sightseeing.

“First of all, I’m glad you’re calling it a short trip, because that’s what we’re going to make of it,” said Smith.

“We land on Thursday morning and we are back here (Bloemfontein) on Sunday morning to go to church at nine o’clock, so it’s really a short trip and we’re not going to make a big thing of it.

“The second thing is I’m going to make them (the team) google all the sights and sounds this week so that we don’t have to walk around and look at everything there.

“I’ve always joked and said it’s not a shopping trip, we’re going there with plans - specific plans on how we are going to handle the six-hour time difference.

“We are going to finish the hard work on Monday and Tuesday here in Bloemfontein where we are comfortable, then we will sharpen up just before the game.”

Toyota Cheetahs squad (In alphabetical order): Clayton Blommetjies, Uzair Cassiem, Johannes Coetzee, Luan de Bruin, Jacques du Toit, Sias Ebersohn, Reniel Hugo, Hilton Lobberts, Charles Marais, Niel Marais, Tian Meyer, Ox Nche, Sergeal Petersen, Boom Prinsloo, Raymond Rhule, Paul Schoeman, William Small-Smith, Francois Uys, Maks van Dyk, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Hendrik Venter, Francois Venter, Shaun Venter, Carl Wegner, Fred Zeilinga.

Morgan Piek/OFM News