New Cheetahs captain Francois Uys could not have asked for a more satisfying start to his reign as team leader.
The Cheetahs have surprised all and sundry with back-to-back wins in these early stages of the 2015 Super Rugby season, winning against the Sharks in Durban first-up and then battling past the Blues in Bloemfontein last weekend.
“It’s been good; I couldn’t have asked more from the guys,” said Uys this week.
“I thought we played well against the Sharks and stuck to what we wanted to do and then against the Blues we moved away from our plans and we weren’t really up to standard, but we got through.
“The character shown by the players was huge. We were on the back foot most of the way but we hung in and if you can win when you play poorly then that’s a big positive.”
This weekend, the Bulls visit Bloemfontein – another massive challenge for a fairly new-look Cheetahs side.
Uys says his team are going to have to be very clinical if they’re to have a shot at making it three in a row.
“We were forced to make too many tackles against the Blues so we’re going to have to look after the ball much better this week.”
Indeed, the Bloemfontein side were asked to tackle on 173 occasions last Friday, 31 of which they missed, which meant they were on the back foot for much of the contest. Also, they turned the ball over on 18 occasions; against the Sharks in round one they conceded just nine turnovers.
“The Bulls will ask a lot of us. They’re big and strong up front and they’re pretty sound in the set-pieces.
“They’ll also be full of confidence after getting that win last weekend (against the Sharks), but then we’re also a confident bunch right now. That’s what winning does for a team, it gives you confidence.”
A third win this weekend would set the Cheetahs up nicely for the remainder of the competition as Naka Drotske and Co look to make up for their poor showing last year.
They’ll certainly be hoping to repeat their feats of 2013 when they went all the way to the play-offs.
“That’s the goal of course. We want to be in the mix at the end; if you can do that then anything is possible. But this competition is very long and very demanding. It’s certainly not a sprint, it’s rather a marathon. We know what’s in front of us but we’re really taking it one step at a time.”
Drotske has made just the one change to the side that won last weekend for the visit by the Bulls. The injured Willie Britz is replaced at No8 by Jean Cook, who moves from flank, while coming in on the side of the scrum is Boom Prinsloo.
Former Sharks lock and EP Kings captain Steven Sykes also comes in on the bench for what could be a first run out for the Cheetahs.
Cheetahs STARTING XV: Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks, Francois Venter, Michael van der Spuy, Raymond Rhule, Joe Petersen, Sarel Pretorius, Jean Cook, Oupa Mohoje, Boom Prinsloo, Francois Uys (capt), Carl Wegner, Coenie Oosthuizen, Torsten van
Jaarsveld, Danie Mienie;
Replacements: Stephan Coetzee, BG Uys, Maks van Dyk, Tienie Burger, Steven Sykes, Tian Meyer, Willie du Plessis, Johan Sadie - The Star