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Rugby

Cheetahs wary of Munster and Van Graan

───   MORGAN PIEK 17:35 Thu, 10 Oct 2019

Cheetahs wary of Munster and Van Graan | News Article
Johann van Graan - Morgan Piek

The Toyota Cheetahs target their first-ever win over Munster when these two teams meet in round three of the Guinness PRO14 on Friday evening.


Both teams will enter the match unbeaten in the 2019/20 season, but with wins over two of last season’s semi-finalists, Glasgow Warriors and Ulster, the Cheetahs will be the more confident of the two.

Munster, who of course reached the semi-finals last season as well, earned 39-9 win over the Dragons at Thomond Park in round one, while last week they had to grind to a 31-20 victory over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth.

The Munster discipline was by no means as sharp as it normally is, and their coach, Johann van Graan, will know exactly how to remedy their game.

Munster does have twelve players at the Rugby World Cup in Japan, however, last week the Cheetahs managed to roll over Ulster who just had three players away.

The outgoing Cheetahs interim coach, Franco Smith, who served alongside Van Graan as an assistant coach at the Springboks, told OFM Sport that his counterpart is no fool and he knows exactly what to bring to Bloemfontein.

“We know each other well, and he knows my philosophy.

“He has got a world of experience. More than 70 Tests with the Springboks and some of these were at a World Cup.

“He was the attack coach at the Springboks before I got involved, and I think he will have a good understanding of how I operate.

“This week it was important to try and work out what he would try and do to stop us.

“He knows the players really well, like Dries Swanepoel, who he tried to get at Munster, and Ruan Pienaar, who he has also worked with previously.

“He is also a very good friend of Corniel van Zyl and they would have definitely exchanged note about lineout time.”

Meanwhile, Van Graan has made five changes to his team which beat the Kings a week prior in the Friendly City.  The captain Billy Holland comes into the side with Tyler Bleyendaal, Nick McCarthy, Jeremy Loughman and Rhys Marshall also included.

Friday evening’s match between the Cheetahs and Munster at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein kicks off at 18:15.

Toyota Cheetahs – 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Louis Fouché, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Ruan Pienaar (captain), 8 Henco Venter, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements – 16 Reinach Venter, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Sias Koen, 21 Jasper Wiese, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.

Munster - 15 Mike Haley, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Dan Goggin, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Shane Daly, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 9 Nick McCarthy,8 Arno Botha, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Billy Holland (captain), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Jeremy Loughman.

Replacements - 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 James Cronin, 18 Keynan Knox, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Gavin Coombes, 21 Alby Mathewson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Calvin Nash.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport

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