Johannesburg - South African Rugby Player of the Year for 2015 Lood de Jager won’t be part of the Cheetahs’ one-off game against the Sunwolves in Singapore on Saturday. The Springbok lock has been left at home in Bloemfontein to rest, opening the door for former skipper Francois Uys to move back into the second row.
The Cheetahs will be desperate to pick up a win against one of the new Super Rugby sides after going down to the Jaguares and Stormers in the opening two weekends. The Sunwolves will also be keen to register a first win after falling to the Lions in week one, while they enjoyed last weekend off. It will be the first time a Super Rugby match is played in Singapore.
The Cheetahs 25-man squad will board the plane to Singapore later on Wednesday and return early on Sunday morning. Coach Franco Smith told Ofm in Bloemfontein his side are viewing their trip to Singapore as a “business outing”.
“We land on Thursday morning and we are back here (Bloemfontein) on Sunday morning to go to church at nine o’clock, so it’s really a short trip and we’re not going to make a big thing of it.
“The second thing is I’m going to make them (the team) google all the sights and sounds this week so that we don’t have to walk around and look at everything there. I’ve always joked and said it’s not a shopping trip, we’re going there with plans – specific plans on how we are going to handle the six-hour time difference.” Smith will name his team for the match tomorrow. Meanwhile, Southern Kings coach Deon Davids has made several changes to his team for their match against the wounded Chiefs in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Several players with Super Rugby experience come into the side for the Kings’ second match back in the competition after losing their opening game against the Sharks. The Kings had a bye last weekend.
Former Bulls pivot Louis Fouche takes charge of the No 10 jersey, while Stefan Watermeyer will strengthen the midfield where he’ll team up with the promising Shane Gates. The Kings will also be hoping for a good set-piece against the Chiefs, especially with Jacobie Adriaanse, Edgar Marutlulle and Schalk Ferreira packing down in the front row.
Davids said a huge task awaited his team. “The Chiefs loss against the Lions definitely didn’t help us as this has now become an important game for them,” said Davids.
The Star