Rugby
Good battle expected between Steyn and Lasike─── MORGAN PIEK 07:44 Thu, 13 Oct 2022
The Toyota Cheetahs coach, Hawies Fourie, is expecting a good battle in the midfield on Friday evening when they face the USA Falcons in Bloemfontein in the Toyota Challenge.
The two-time World Cup winner, Frans Steyn, will play at inside centre for the Cheetahs, while his direct opposite will be Paul Lasike.
Lasike has a handful of tests for the USA, but he did play as a fullback for the NFL team, the Chicago Bears for three years, while he was also on the books of the Arizona Cardinals.
The New Zealand-born Lasike also played rugby for Harlequins in England up until last year.
Fourie told OFM Sport that this should unfold into a good battle.
"I think there will be a few big clashes between the two when they run at each other," said Fourie.
"There are two very big boys and it will be interesting to see who wins the mini-battle between them.
"They have different skill sets - Frans is a very good kicker and we will use that to our advantage.
"Lasike is a very good ball carrier with very good running lines. Especially in your 22, he comes off the blind behind the forwards and you've got to be really sharp on defence to pick him up. In contact, he can offload with both hands.
"He is a difficult customer, but I know Frans is a really competitive guy and we would like to show that he is still the better of the two."
Friday night’s game between the Cheetahs and the USA at the Toyota Stadium will kick off at 18:00.
Toyota Cheetahs - 15 Cohen Jasper, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 George Lourens, 9 Branden de Kock, 8 Oupa Mohoje, 7 Sibabalo Qoma, 6 Marnus van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Beertjie van Vuuren, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Replacements - 16 Janus Venter, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jean Drosté, 20 Jeandré Rudolph, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Robert Ebersohn.
USA Falcons - 15 Marcel Brache, 14 Mitch Wilson, 13 Bryce Campbell (captain), 12 Paul Lasike, 11 Christian Dyer, 10 Luke Carty, 9 Nate Augspurger, 8 Jamason Fa'anana-Schultz, 7 Cory Daniel, 6 Viliamo Helu, 5 Nick Civetta, 4 Keni Nasoqeqe, 3 Paul Mullen, 2 Dylan Fawsitt, 1 Jack Isacaro.
Replacements - 16 Kaleb Geiger, 17 Chance Wenglewski, 18 Angus Maclellan, 19 Siaosi Mahoni, 20 Cam Dolan, 21 Duncan van Schalkwyk, 22 Tavite Lopeit, 23 Chris Mattina.
