Celtic Rugby confirmed the date this afternoon, and this will apply to all five of the playing regions, which includes South Africa.

The revamped PRO14 will comprise of a double-round of derbies, and the top two teams in each conference will advance to the semi-finals.

The Cheetahs are currently fourth in their conference and two points behind the Glasgow Warriors. For them to reach the play-offs, they will also need a favour from Edinburgh in the Scottish derby, and from Connacht in the Irish debry.

Fourie told OFM Sport that while there is still a long way to go, it is good to have a goal to work towards.

“It definitely helps to have some clarity as to when we might be back on the field. It still depends on the individual countries, the laws, and the sports federations, so it is not cast in stone that we will play against the Kings on the 22nd of August.

“Progress is being made and hopefully we will all be back on the field at the end of August or at the beginning of September if everything goes according to plan.

“We are looking forwarding to that and the players would like to get back on the field. Regarding training, they have done a lot of individual running and all of them are looking forward to start training with the ball again, get into the gym, and training in groups and with the team.

“That is still something for the future, but at least we are getting closer to that.”

The official fixtures will be confirmed in due course.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport