On Friday evening, some of the Cheetahs fringe players played in their 53-25 win over the USA Falcons.

This week’s Central derby between the Cheetahs and Griquas will be the tournament's last match which also featured the Bulls XV and Emerging Irish.

The Cheetahs coach, Hawies Fourie, said his fringe players did well, but this week it will be his strongest team playing.

“It was a stage game for some of them,” said Fourie about the performance of his fringe players.

“A guy like Evardi (Boshoff) didn't get a lot of ball to play with and show what he can do. I think he was a bit frustrated after the game.

“Marko (Janse van Rensburg) and Janus (Venter), the two hookers that played, did well. We did well in the lineouts as well, I think there was one skew throw and that was it for the whole game.

“We got some game time for Branden (De Kock) and George (Lourens) at nine and ten. I was tempted to give them a little bit more game time, I just felt that we needed Ruan (Pienaar) and Reinhardt (Fortuin) on the field to make good decisions and to get up into their territory so that we could play in their half of the field and stop messing around in our own 22m area.

“It's difficult for the guys that don't play much. Branden played a year ago against Zimbabwe in his last match and he did well. He was at the breakdowns quickly and he kicked well. He can be satisfied with his game.

“That was the way we decided to it - to give everyone a chance and reward them for working hard in training and then we will select the strongest available combination for the Griquas.”

Friday’s match between the Cheetahs and Griquas kicks off at 19:00.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport