The Cheetahs will be looking to make it a perfect 10 out of 10 this coming Saturday when they host the Blue Bulls in this year’s Currie Cup final in Bloemfontein.
Franco Smith’s team will go into the match having won nine in a row in the competition; their last victory the stunning 55-17 semi-final triumph over the Lions on Saturday.
The Cheetahs ripped the Lions to pieces, scoring six tries to three, with wing Sergeal Petersen getting a hat-trick and flyhalf Niel Marais slotting eight out of eight kicks at goal.
For the defending champions, who went 12 games unbeaten en route to lifting the title last year and featured in the Super Rugby final earlier this season, it was a day to forget.
Johan Ackermann’s men were kept scoreless in the first half, they had two players sin-binned and, on top of that, they suffered a few serious injury blows, the worst of which was the neck injury suffered by Springbok prop JulianRedelinghuys.
But Saturday was about Smith’s Cheetahs, who’ll now play in their first Currie Cup final since 2009.
They dominated proceedings against the Lions - who were missing several first choice players who’re now playing club rugby in Japan - and will start as hot favourites against the Bulls, winners over Western Province at Loftus Versfeld.
There will, however, be a little concern in the home team camp about the injuries incurred by powerhouse prop Ox Nche and centre Nico Lee, both of whom have been among the stars in their team this year.
Smith though is confident they’ll come through this week to take their place in the team on Saturday.
“Nico came off as a precautionary measure while Ox had a cartilage issue, so we’ll monitor him in the comings days,” said a relaxed and confident Smith after Saturday’s victory.
The Cheetahs have come a long way since Smith took over as coach from Naka Drotske in the latter stages of last year’ s competition.
They finished fourth last year with just three wins and lost to the Lions in the semi-finals while in Super Rugby this season, Smith’s men managed only four wins in 15 outings.
“It was a spectacular performance,” said Smith of his team’s demolition of the Lions. “It’s not the performance I expected, but all credit to the players who bought into the philosophy and plan and played excellent rugby in the competition.
“Our goals were to play an exciting brand of rugby and to play winning rugby and I think we’ve achieved those aims.
“We’ve worked extremely hard to improve our skills set and things are getting better and better so we’re delighted with what’s happened here recently.”
The Cheetahs have always been an attack-minded side, but they’ve now added a strong defensive component to their game and that, more than anything, has played a major part in them winning nine games in a row. In the round-robin stages (eight games) they let in just 18 tries, by far the best defensive record of all the teams.
While Smith and Bloemfontein prepare for the Currie Cup final, the Lions will be licking their wounds after going down with hardly a fight; their season over without bagging a trophy this time round.
The Star