The Cheetahs open their campaign on Saturday afternoon after sitting out in round one due to a bye.

The Cheetahs made a few injury-enforced changes to their side and it sees debuts on the cards for Victor Sekekete and George Cronjé.

Fourie told OFM Sport that they need to win in order to end on top of the log.

“The game will determine our fate in the sense of, if we don’t beat them, we won’t be able to finish first on the log. But if we lose against them, we will still have a good chance of finishing in the top four,” he added.

“So it is not a do-or-die game but we and all the other teams in contention would like to finish on top of the log and secure a home final if you get through to one. In that regard, it is a very important game for us.”

The Bulls and Cheetahs go head-to-head at 16:30 on Saturday afternoon.

Bulls - 15  Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 David Kriel, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.

Replacements - 16 Corniel Els, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Marnus Potgieter.

Toyota Free State Cheetahs - 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 Howard Mnisi, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Victor Sekekete, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Carl Wegner (captain), 4 Ian Groenewald, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Boan Venter.

Replacements - 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Erich de Jager, 19 Chris Massyn, 20 George Cronjé, 21 Ruben de Haas, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 William Small-Smith.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport