Matches in the cross-hemisphere competition have been called-off until further notice the resumption will be a matter of constant review.

For the Cheetahs, in particular, it does come as a blow as they were set to play a series of home matches after the majority of their games have been played in Europe to date.

The Cheetahs were set to host the defending champions, Leinster, next week Saturday, while teams like Edinburgh, were also due to visit the City of Roses.

While the suspension of the PRO14 is bad news for the sport, it does allow the injured players in the Cheetahs set-up to recover. These include the captain Ruan Pienaar and the loose forward, Junior Pokomela.

Cheetahs coach, Hawies Fourie, told OFM Sport that situation is a double-edged sword.

“It is a difficult situation because don’t know what is going to happen. We are waiting for PRO Rugby to guide us.

“For me, it will help a lot to know for how long they want to suspend the competition. Then we can plan accordingly.

“It will give guys like Ruan Pienaar and Junior Pokomela to recover and that will be beneficial for us.

“It is a stop-start competition, which makes it quite difficult. In the past five months, we’ve only had one home game, and we were looking forward to six home games out of the next seven fixtures.

“It is bad timing for us. We were looking forward to playing in Bloemfontein and taking on the big guns like Leinster and Edinburgh on our home turf.

“We’ve prepared well for Leinster, but that game has been suspended and we don’t what is going to happen and for how long. As soon as we’ve got more info we will plan accordingly.”

Meanwhile, for now, the Super Rugby will continue, albeit the matches in Australia and Argentina will be played behind closed doors. On Saturday morning at 5:25 the Blues host the Lions in Auckland, at 10:15 the Reds face the Bulls in Brisbane and at 15:05 the Sharks entertain Stormers in Durban.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport