There will certainly be a buzz in the camp with a largely unchanged squad, while there will be some new faces at the team.

The Cheetahs will start preparing for their home and away matches against the Western Force, which in turn will be a warm-up of their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign.

The fiery flanker, Gideon van der Merwe, who only played in the round of 16 battle against Toulon, told OFM Sport that he is excited ahead of the season.

“We're starting with the preseason next week and I think we are going to be hitting the ground running,” said Van der Merwe.

“We're just preparing for that mentally so far. We're looking forward to facing the Western Force home and away and those will be warm-up games for the EPCR Challenge Cup.

“I'm very excited that we can play in Amsterdam for EPCR and I think that's the closest to home that we can be while playing in Europe. It's the closest to Bloemfontein for us in terms of both places being orange.

“It's going to be really fun, and to play the Sharks at home before our December break will be fantastic for us and I'm really looking forward to it.”

A knee injury on the morning before last year’s Currie Cup semi-final against the Pumas forced Van der Merwe to be on the sidelines for a lengthy period and this led to him missing almost their entire campaign in Europe.

The Cheetahs will begin with their preseason next week Wednesday.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport