Who’ll win the derby cat-fight?
Ackermann wary of Cheetahs’ threats
WHO’LL lay down the early marker – the Currie Cup champions or the Super Rugby runners-up from last year?
That is the big question ahead of today’s opening round Super Rugby match between the Cheetahs and Lions in Bloemfontein.
Both teams have made it clear that what happened in 2016 is long-forgotten and that they’re both starting from scratch today.
The reality though is the finalists from a year ago, the Lions, will draw inspiration from that wonderful march to the last match of the competition and on top of that they’re a settled team having played together for a while now, while the Cheetahs would have been boosted by their 10-match unbeaten run in the Currie Cup.
They’ll certainly both be confident today, believing they’re good enough to win first-up, and let’s not forget the home team appear to be a team on the move, like the Lions were a year or two ago. It’s something Lions boss Johan Ackermann is all too aware of ahead of today’s match.
“They’ve grown tremendously as a team in the last year ... and in a way they’ve followed the same kind of path we took.
“They started building two years ago when Franco Smith came in, they then went a step further last year and won the Currie Cup and are now in year three,” said Ackermann.
His own team took a similar route: 2014 was the rebuilding, 2015 saw them win the Currie Cup and last year they did superbly in Super Rugby, going all the way to the final.
Could the Cheetahs follow the same, almost unthinkable, path?
“They’ve got quality players all over the team ... their tightfive is really strong, their loosies are great and their backs are very dangerous. On top of that they’ve really only lost Lood (de Jager) in the off-season. They’ve got threats all over the place.
“Franco has turned them back into an exciting team who play an exciting brand of rugby. What impressed me a lot was their accuracy in the Currie Cup competition.”
Indeed, the Cheetahs looked a good outfit by the end of the domestic competition in October but their big test will be Super Rugby, and all its challenges: week-in and week-out rugby, travelling, much tougher opposition and the expectation from their fans.
The Lions though, too, face a different challenge this year. They were something of the unknown force a year ago, not too many teams expected them to play as well as they did, but this year there’s the weight of expectation and everything about them is known. But is it?
“Every team will have improved this season, made changes to how they play, brought in new ideas and tactics so we’re all starting from zero again,” said Ackermann.
“We especially can’t rely on what we did a year ago; we have to be better, more accurate and execute well again. It’s going to be another big, challenging season.”
With eight Springboks in the starting team, the Lions must be the heavy favourites in Bloemfontein this afternoon.
The Cheetahs though are now the unknown force so it’s anyone’s guess who’ll come out on top after 80 minutes. Take your pick, and enjoy it.