Cheetahs rotate eight
Posted Tue, 11 Mar 2008
The Cheetahs young guns will be given a crack at the whip against the Crusaders in their Super match on Saturday.
Coach Naka Drotské has announced eight changes to the team that lost 20-22 against the Chiefs in Hamilton last weekend.
The Cheetahs held a 17-0 lead at half time, but unfortunately could not keep the rampaging Chiefs at bay in the second half, and conceded three tries in that period, before a late penalty conversion from Chiefs flyhalf Stephen Donald consigned them to another demoralising defeat.
Assistant coach Dawie Theron revealed to rugby365 that the Cheetahs would be using a rotation policy for their match in Christchurch.
In the backline, Hendrik Meyer (inside centre) and Tewis de Bruyn (scrumhalf) replace Meyer Bosman and Falie Oelschig respectively. Bosman and Oelshig move to the bench.
Six players come into the forward pack. Kabamba Floors takes over at No.8 from Duanne Vermeulen. Heinrich Brüssow sits out this game, and Hendro Scholtz, who also takes over the captaincy from Rory Duncan, wears No.6.
Locks Barend Pieterse and Duncan make way for Flip van der Merwe and David de Villiers, while front row forwards Richardt Strauss (hooker) and Ronnie Uys (loosehead prop) replace Adriaan Strauss and Wian du Preez respectively.
"[Head coach] Naka [Drotské] has said before that we want to give every player an opportunity to play on tour," said coach Theron.
"We want to give all he players some exposure of playing away from home.
"We have decided to make the changes to the line-up, but it is still a strong team that we send out.
Theron also explained that it was in the long-term interest of the team and the players to enforce adequate rest and recuperation.
"It doesn't help if you put players on the field that are tired and weary," he continued.
"We don't want to overexert the players, we want to give everybody a fair chance."
The Cheetahs remain winless in this year's competition, and now face the table-topping Crusaders, who have been in blinding form in the early stages of the Super 14.
The Western Force nearly pulled off a surprise victory last week against the six-time Super Rugby champions, and showed that the Cantabrians can be vulnerable against quality attacks, as they ran in four tries in their 24-29 loss in Perth.
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Hendrik Meyer, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Kabamba Floors, 7 Darron Nel, 6 Hendro Scholtz (captain), 5 David de Villiers, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Ronnie Uys
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 Barend Pieterse, 19 Duanne Vermeulen, 20 Tobie Botes, 21 Falie Oelschig, 22 Meyer Bosman
365
