Goosen starts as Cheetahs ring changes for historic PRO14 play-off

Published May 4, 2018

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LLANELLI, Wales – South Africa's remaining Pro14 hope, the Cheetahs, have named their team to play the Scarlets in the Pro14 play-off at the Parc y Scarlets Stadium in Llanelli on Saturday evening.

It will be a historic clash with the home side, Scarlets, having finished second in Conference B and the Toyota Cheetahs third in Conference A and mark the first time an SA side contest the play-offs.

Both of these teams have been responsible for the most daring and exciting play in Guinness Pro14 and now they meet with a semifinal trip to Glasgow at stake.

Glasgow Warriors and Leinster are already safely through to the semis having finished top of their Conferences.

Scarlets have been unbeaten in their last 20 home matches in Pro14 but the Toyota Cheetahs is not afraid to take up the challenge.

"It’s quite exciting to hear that the support is there and everybody’s excited about the game," said coach Rory Duncan.

"It’s obviously a special game for us, I don’t think there’s any moving away from the guys realising that they’re in the play-offs and it’s exciting for us to be there."

"With regards to the Scarlets and the way they’ve performed they’re obviously a quality outfit and they’ve got some great players in their line-up. We’ve obviously done our prep and our homework in terms of this game as we have with every other where we’ve faced quality players."

The Cheetahs and Starlets’ only previous encounter was in round 10 in Bloemfontein, with the Toyota Cheetahs winning 28-21.

Duncan has announced his team with some changes from last week. Springbok Johan Goosen will be starting at flyhalf and Niel Marais moves to centre. Clinton Swart will be providing cover on the bench.

The following players are not eligible for team selection due to injury: Dennis Visser (knee), Elandré Huggett (knee) Ruan van Rensburg (hand), Luan de Bruin (chest muscle), Shaun Venter (knee), Nico Lee (ankle), Luther Obi (knee).

Cheetahs team:

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Niel Marais, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charl Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 Lloyd Greeff.

African News Agency (ANA)

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