Cheetahs look for redemption
VAN JAARSVELD: WE NEED TO FIX IT AGAINST THE BULLS
Beaten Bulls give players a chance to atone for defeat.
The Cheetahs let themselves down against the Lions last weekend and they owe it to themselves to fix matters against the Bulls in Bloemfontein this evening.
That’s according to stand-in skipper Torsten van Jaarsveld, who will again lead the side with regular skipper Francois Venter still not ready to return after his ankle injury.
Both teams started their Super Rugby campaign with a loss – the Cheetahs going down 28-25 to the Lions, while the Bulls were exposed 37-24 by the Stormers at Newlands.
“A win would have been the perfect start to the season, but I think the guys did really well and probably surprised themselves,” said Van Jaarsveld.
“At half-time we said we need to keep the ball a bit more, to have clinical exits, but it didn’t really work out for us and we left some points on the field,” he said.
The Bulls had a torrid time last week in the scrums where tighthead Trevor Nyakane was heavily blown up and today he faces another test against Ox Nche who replaced Charles Marais for the Cheetahs.
“It was back to the drawing board, the scrums were tough and the soft pitch made it difficult for both sides,” said Van Jaarsveld.
“We had two soft moments where we let them back in, we have to get our feet more under us next game,” he said.
The Bulls, on the other hand, refrained from making wholesale changes after the Newlands debacle and coach Nollis Marais said he will leave it up to the players to rectify matters.
And in front of the queue of players that need to stand up and be counted is flyhalf Handre Pollard who, by his own admission, didn’t have his best game at Newlands.
But if the Cheetahs follow the Stormers blueprint by applying a quick tempo to the game the Bulls’ defence will be put to the test.