Cheetahs out to make Pro14 impact
THEIR first season in the Guinness Pro14 will be a voyage into the unknown, but the Cheetahs have not come just to make up the numbers.
Indeed director of rugby Rory Duncan is adamant the South African franchise – who along with the Southern Kings are this year part of the newlook league – can compete at this level.
A former player with the Cheetahs, Duncan has his work cut out for him at the start of the inaugural Pro14 season.
Not only are the Cheetahs also engaged in a defence of the Currie Cup crown they won last year – with five of the first six weeks of fixtures seeing the two competitions clash – but they also have a baptism of fire.
They begin their campaign against first Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium on a Friday night and then are off to Munster and Thomond Park a week later.
And Duncan – who attended the launch of the league in Dublin last week – cannot wait to get started.
“Up to the launch it has been a lot of preparation, focusing on the Currie Cup campaign and getting the logistics of Pro rugby under way,” he said.
“But being here in this environment, it feels real and very exciting.
“There is a lot of excitement in our player group, we have a young group which is a positive.
“The guys get very excited about travelling, about playing away from home and we are team that does travel relatively well.
“We have not really established an end point or an outcome to aim for as yet, what we are doing is what we do with every campaign and that is take it one game at a time.
“We focus on the outcome of that weekend, all the prepara- tion and everything is geared towards getting that win. And that will continue into the Guinness Pro14.
“Everyone wants to know how we compare to the teams up north – now they have got an opportunity.
“It’s not just a case of playing games away, we have obviously got half our games at home and we are really looking forward to seeing the teams come and play in Bloemfontein at altitude in the summer.”
The Cheetahs are synonymous with innovative attacking rugby – in 2013 they surprised many in their path to the Super Rugby play-offs for the first and only time in their history.
This Super Rugby campaign was affected by injuries, but Duncan – who revealed that next year the Currie Cup fixtures would probably be altered to avoid clashes with the Guinness PRO14 – is hopeful his side can adapt to a league that has rewarded attacking flair.
“The Cheetah brand of rugby, we have always been known for playing an ex- pansive brand, an attractive game,” added Duncan.
“We like to move the ball around, we like to play at a high tempo and that is something that our support-base associate with.
“To use the word confidence would be the wrong one at this time, we are entering into new territory. But we do have intentions of playing the brand that we know well.
“I did pick up that a team like Scarlets plays an expansive game and in the final last year against Munster they managed to get quite a bit of momentum in those outside channels.
“If it works out for us then that will be great.”
Duncan is not a stranger to Pro Rugby in the UK. The former Free State Cheetah admits he was something of a Munster fan last year as they flourished under the guidance of his good friend Rassie Erasmus.
Friendship will be put aside in round two, however, as the Cheetahs look to make a mark in the competition and a conference that includes Glasgow Warriors, Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys.
“We start on the road with Ulster next week and then Munster the week after, so those will be two tough games to get us started.
“We anticipate two tough games but we will put the strongest possible line-up we have at that time on the pitch.
“It is one of the great characteristics of our team, is the guys ability to fight it out.
“To establish ourselves in the competition and be competitive is obviously the longterm goal.” – ANA