Cheetahs brace for Pumas

The Cheetahs will be ready to settle the score against the Pumas when they host the defending champions in the 2023 Currie Cup final at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 4pm).

The Bloemfontein side were stunned at home in a high-scoring semifinal last year by the Pumas, as they went on to lift their inaugural title and the Cheetahs will be eager to make amends for that loss in front of their home fans this coming weekend.

Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie was asked after their brilliant 39-10 semifinal win over a United Rugby Championship-laden Bulls team, whether his side would be ready for the challenge of the Pumas and he answered in the affi rmative.

“Our guys will be up for the challenge. We have a score to settle with the Pumas after last year’s semifinal. To win the cup is the ultimate motivation. So we will be down to earth again on Monday [today] and we will work as hard as we have over the past few weeks,” said Fourie.

“The Pumas are a really dangerous team on attack. They can score tries from anywhere on the field and they are very physical.

“It’s a bit more difficult to get momentum and quick ball against them than against any other team in the competition. So we will be ready for that.”

In the match against the Bulls it was a Ruan Pienaar-inspired effort, with the former Springbok veteran playing at flyhalf and contributing 22 of the Cheetahs’ 39 points.

Fourie hailed the performance of Pienaar, while also praising his teams conditioning and the impact of the bench in helping them to a monstrous win over a team that was slightly fancied to beat them.

“We are well conditioned, which was a bit of a problem last year, and I think our bench makes a huge difference. The guys who come on managed to lift the energy and the tempo, so I was confident if we were ahead at half-time we would win,” explained Fourie.

“We just did the basics really well and stuck to what has been working for us.”