The match in Bloemfontein is a must-win game for both teams in order to keep their play-off chances alive.

The match will be the Griquas last away game before the knockout phase, while for the Cheetahs it’s their last home game.

The Cheetahs' captain, Ruan Pienaar, said that they have had too many soft moments.

“We’ve shown glimpses of what we can do and had too many soft moments to let teams in. The short turnaround is tough on the bodies but I think it is the same for everyone.

“I don’t think the log table justifies the way we’ve played this season. We’ve had a really tough start to the season with Covid and injuries and a few narrow losses. It could easily have gone differently and we might have been second or third on the log.

“We have a young group and a lot of new players. Things don’t just happen overnight and we know that there is a process that we need to follow. We need to back the coaches and the management and what they expect of us and just do that better. It might take some time, but we’ll get there.”

The last time the Cheetahs and Griquas met was during round two of the Currie Cup. The Griquas stunned the Cheetahs with a 31-10 win in that game played in Kimberley.

This afternoon’s derby at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 16:45.

Toyota Cheetahs - 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Craig Barry, 13 David Brits, 12 Siya Masuka, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Aidon Davis, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Jean Drosté, 4 Victor Sekekete, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Cameron Dawson.

Replacements – 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Beertjie van Vuuren, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Reinier Viljoen, 21 Mihali Mosi, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Chris Smit.

Griquas - 15 Ashlon Davids, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Chris Hollis, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 James Verity-Amm, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruan Steenkamp (captain), Hanru Sirgel, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Stefan Willemse, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Erich de Jager, 2 Alandré van Rooyen, 1 Mox Mxoli.

Replacements - 16 Janco Uys, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 Andries Schutte, 19 Johan Momsen, 20 Luyolo Dapula, 21 Raegan Oranje, 22 André Swarts, 23 Ederies Arendse, 24 Andrew Kuhn, 25 Cameron Lindsay, 26 Fiela Boshoff.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport