The domestic competition finally gets underway on Friday evening when the Sharks tackle the Lions at Kings’ Park in Durban.

The Cheetahs have played in two warm-up games against the Griquas and they made no secret about wanting to improve on their performance in the friendlies.

The Cheetahs captain, Ruan Pienaar, told OFM Sport that the Pumas will be up for the game, and it is good to have the players back who played in the Springbok Showdown last week.

“I think everyone in South Africa is just excited to get going again.

“All the teams just to go out and do what they love.

“It is good to have Frans (Steyn), Luan (De Bruin), and all the other guys that played in Cape Town back again.

“They obviously had a great time there and learnt a lot of things in the Springbok setup.

“To have that experience back again and to add value to the team will be massively important.

“We will be playing a very good Pumas team that will be big and physical, so we will have to be up for that.”

Saturday’s match at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 16:30.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport