The two teams will play in a home-and-away derby over the next two weeks as they prepare for the Currie Cup.

The Cheetahs last played in March in the Guinness PRO14, while the Peacock Blues’ last match was when they lost to the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup semi-finals on 31 August last year.

The Cheetahs utility back, William Small-Smith, told OFM Sport that it will definitely be a tough outing.

“The guys are really excited about our first game week.

“The Griquas might not have played rugby in the last year, but don’t forget that they were Currie Cup semi-finalists last year and if things panned out a little differently they would have had a home semi and final by topping the log.

“We are not going there for a warm-up game, it’s really to measure ourselves against a quality outfit.

“It will be good for us to see where we are at the moment. We’ve really been working hard, but we’ve just been taking contact against each other and running our gameplan against one another.

“We know all the calls and everything that we are about to do, so it will be good to measure ourselves against a third party.

“The Griquas are really a quality outfit, so it is going to be tough, especially there in Kimberley.”

Meanwhile, the Cheetahs have been dealt with another big injury blow. This time it’s the explosive outside back, Rhyno Smith, who is sidelined after injuring his quad during Friday’s contact session at the Toyota Stadium.

The Cheetahs and Griquas will play each other in Bloemfontein next weekend in the second warm-up derby.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport