Cheetahs make three changes

BLOEMFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA - APRIL 03, Naka Drotske during the Toyota Cheetahs press conference at Free State Stadium on April 03, 2012 in Bloemfontein, South Africa Photo by Johan Pretorius / Gallo Images

BLOEMFONTEIN, SOUTH AFRICA - APRIL 03, Naka Drotske during the Toyota Cheetahs press conference at Free State Stadium on April 03, 2012 in Bloemfontein, South Africa Photo by Johan Pretorius / Gallo Images

Published Mar 12, 2014

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Johannesburg – Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has made three tactical and one positional change to his run-on side for their third overseas game of the Super Rugby competition against the Hurricanes in Wellington.

The Bloemfontein-based side will run onto the field early on Saturday morning with scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius replacing Shaun Venter in the starting line-up.

Springbok winger Raymond Rhule is back in the starting XV recovering from an ankle injury which sidelined him for last weekend's Reds game.

With Rhule's inclusion, Springbok playmaker Willie le Roux moves back to fullback and Hennie Daniller is relegated to the bench.

Winger Cornal Hendricks comes back into the side and replaces Rayno Benjamin, who has been left out of the match-day 23

altogether.

Drotske included replacement lock Andries Ferreira on the bench to give some much needed depth.

“Although we again did not achieve what we wanted to against the Reds, a couple of players really showed they belong in the starting line-up,” Drotske said.

“I thought Sarel Pretorius did very well when he came onto the field, while a guy like Cornal Hendricks also impressed us.

“And of course it is good to have Raymond Rhule back. We believe he will make a big impact against the Hurricanes.”

Saturday will be the ninth time the Cheetahs and Hurricanes bump heads in the Super Rugby competition.

The Cheetahs have beaten the Wellington-based side only three times, with the New Zealand outfit beating them on five occasions.

In their previous meeting in Wellington, the Cheetahs came out on top.

Cheetahs team: Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Johann Sadie, Francois Venter, Raymond Rhule, Johan Goosen, Sarel Pretorius, Philip van der Walt, Lappies Labuschagne, Boom Prinsloo, Francois Uys, Lood de Jager, Nicolaas van Dyk, Adriaan Strauss (captain), Caylib Oosthuizen.

Replacements: Ryno Barnes, Trevor Nyakane, Rossouw de Klerk, Andries Ferreira, Jean Cook, Shaun Venter, Elgar Watts, Hennie Daniller. – Sapa

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