The Toyota Cheetahs have named their squad that will be heading to Australia for the two Toyota Challenge games against the Western Force.

There are a few players in the touring squad that didn’t play in the home games earlier in the month and they include Reinhardt Fortuin, Daniel Kasende and Laurence Victor, as well as the newly signed prop, Justin Forwood.

All four have recovered from injury and are fit and available for selection, while a handful of players will also miss out on tour.

The scrumhalf, Ruben de Haas, is out for a lengthy period due to an ACL injury, while the Springbok Oupa Mohoje is certainly the unluckiest player not to go our tour if one considers his outstanding game in the second match.

Other players that were not considered because of injury are Evardi Boshoff and Mzwanele Zito.

The hooker Chucky van der Westhuizen and the tighthead prop, Aranos Coetzee, are both unavailable because they are playing for Namibia at the Rugby World Cup in France.

The Cheetahs beat the Force 31-27 in the first game in Bloemfontein, while in the second match they won 27-12 after coming back from 12-0 down after 13 minutes. It is however expected that the Force will be a lot stronger in Perth with some first choice players being back in action.

The Cheetahs assistant coach, Charl Strydom, told OFM Sport that it was important to give all the fit players in the squad game time during the two matches in Bloemfontein.

“We wanted to give everyone game time in the two matches over here, which is what we did.

“Over there we are probably going to pick our strongest side with the European Challenge Cup in mind, so we just want to give those guys as much game time as possible.”

The first match in Perth will be played next week Friday at the Lane Group Stadium in Mandura with kick-off at 13:00.

Touring squad - Rynier Bernardo, David Brits, Robert Ebersohn, Schalk Ferreira, Reinhardt Fortuin, Justin Forwood, Marko Janse van Rensburg, Cohen Jasper, Daniel Kasende, Rewan Kruger, George Lourens, Daniel Maartens, Tapiwa Mafura, Friedle Olivier, Raegan Oranje, Ruan Pienaar, Sibabalo Qoma, Jeandré Rudolph, Victor Sekekete, Alulutho Tshakweni, Gideon van der Merwe, Marnus van der Merwe, Abner van Reenen, Hencus van Wyk, Janus Venter, Laurence Victor, Carl Wegner.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport