Cape Town - With two league fixtures and one bye to go, the Cheetahs will have their eyes firmly fixed on a first-ever appearance in the knock-out stages of Super Rugby when they travel to Cape Town to face the Stormers on Saturday evening.
To keep in touch with the front runners though, the team from Bloemfontein will have to win for only the second time ever in Cape Town and repeat their victory of way back in 2006, when they beat the Stormers 31-25.
Since then, the Capetonians have won four straight encounters at home against the Cheetahs.
In this time, the closest the visitors came to winning at Newlands, was last year when they lost 16-14, despite outscoring the Stormers by two tries to one.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee knows his side is in for a big one on Saturday.
"The Cheetahs have everything to play for," said Coetzee.
"They’re a good team, they’ve done well in the tournament and they have play-off possibilities.
"They’ve also developed a few Springboks in their squad, so they're a quality side.
"We know we’re in for a tough game.”
Speaking about the Stormers’ last three league matches, in what has been a tough season thus far, Coetzee added that he believes there may still be juice left in the tank yet.
"It’s not a case of the competition being over for us.
"We’re a proud Stormers team and, who knows, with some showers of blessings something might happen?
"We’re definitely not happy with our position on the log (11th-place), therefore the next three games are really important to make sure we improve that.
"We have a proud record at home and we want to keep that intact.
"The players are looking forward to the next three derbies and they’re keen to play."
Kick-off for the clash at Newlands is at 19:15 on Saturday.
Teams:
Stormers:
15. Joe Pietersen, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Elton Jantjies, 9. Louis Schreuder, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Deon Fourie (captain), 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Tiaan Liebenberg, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Scarra Ntubeni, 17. Ross Geldenhuys, 18. Gerbrandt Grobler, 19. Don Armand, 20. Dewaldt Duvenage, 21. Gary van Aswegen, 22. Gerhard van den Heever
Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Riaan Smit, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Rynhardt Landman, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Petrus Vermeulen, 19 Johannes Prinsloo, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Elgar Watts, 22 Howard Mnisi.
To keep in touch with the front runners though, the team from Bloemfontein will have to win for only the second time ever in Cape Town and repeat their victory of way back in 2006, when they beat the Stormers 31-25.
Since then, the Capetonians have won four straight encounters at home against the Cheetahs.
In this time, the closest the visitors came to winning at Newlands, was last year when they lost 16-14, despite outscoring the Stormers by two tries to one.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee knows his side is in for a big one on Saturday.
"The Cheetahs have everything to play for," said Coetzee.
"They’re a good team, they’ve done well in the tournament and they have play-off possibilities.
"They’ve also developed a few Springboks in their squad, so they're a quality side.
"We know we’re in for a tough game.”
Speaking about the Stormers’ last three league matches, in what has been a tough season thus far, Coetzee added that he believes there may still be juice left in the tank yet.
"It’s not a case of the competition being over for us.
"We’re a proud Stormers team and, who knows, with some showers of blessings something might happen?
"We’re definitely not happy with our position on the log (11th-place), therefore the next three games are really important to make sure we improve that.
"We have a proud record at home and we want to keep that intact.
"The players are looking forward to the next three derbies and they’re keen to play."
Kick-off for the clash at Newlands is at 19:15 on Saturday.
Teams:
Stormers:
15. Joe Pietersen, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Elton Jantjies, 9. Louis Schreuder, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Deon Fourie (captain), 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Tiaan Liebenberg, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Scarra Ntubeni, 17. Ross Geldenhuys, 18. Gerbrandt Grobler, 19. Don Armand, 20. Dewaldt Duvenage, 21. Gary van Aswegen, 22. Gerhard van den Heever
Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Riaan Smit, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Rynhardt Landman, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Petrus Vermeulen, 19 Johannes Prinsloo, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Elgar Watts, 22 Howard Mnisi.