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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – It is not every day that the Cheetahs get headline local billing in Super Rugby, so certain other South African franchises will be hoping they make the most of it in Saturday night’s “feature” slot (19:10 kick-off) against the Crusaders in Bloemfontein.
GALLERY: Super Rugby Week 12 action
Naka Drotske’s normally embattled charges have climbed to ninth on the overall table after three peculiarly high-scoring matches on the trot in which they have won two and earned 12 points out of a possible 15.
Considering that six teams will be involved in the newly-structured finals series, the Cheetahs could yet be long-shot candidates for sneaking into this phase.
They are a fairly distant 11 points off the currently sixth-placed Waratahs, so there is a mountain to climb, but at least the Free Staters have the knowledge that four of their remaining five conference matches (Crusaders, Rebels, Sharks, Stormers) are at home and the other requires only a short haul to Pretoria to play the Bulls.
Their revival started by bagging two bonus points in a freakish 50-47 defeat to the Hurricanes in Bloemfontein, soon after returning from their overseas tour, but then they stiffened their renaissance curve even more with successive full-house victories over the Brumbies (47-36 in Bloemfontein) and then Lions (53-19 in Johannesburg).
Cynics tempted to say of their latest win “it was only the Lions” would do well to bear in mind that this was easily the heaviest loss by the wooden-spoon side, who may have surrendered 10 of their 11 matches thus far but have run plenty of teams rather close.
So the Cheetahs must be doing something right at present, and now they have the perfect opportunity to underline their resurgence by throwing the kitchen sink at the Crusaders and doing the Stormers and Sharks a big favour if they can pull it off.
The Crusaders, cock-a-hoop after seeing off the Stormers at Newlands with an injury-ravaged squad, will again be under-strength in Bloemfontein but are likely also to be able to welcome back Richie McCaw and Dan Carter – not the worst infusions when times are tricky.
Still, their coach Todd Blackadder is hardly under-estimating the challenge in “Bloem”.
He told Sport24 at the post-match press conference at Newlands: “It’s tough on the road. It is critical at this stage of the competition that you don’t let people get too ahead (the Crusaders still lie second in the New Zealand conference to the Blues).
“It just creates more pressure, more anxiety. You’re also forced to play your best team week in and week out.
“Wary of the Cheetahs? Absolutely; I’ve been watching them over the last three weeks ... the amount of points they can score is unbelievable.
“They look like they’ve thrown the book away and are just going for all-out attack. They’ve been playing very well at home and we’ll have to prepare really well.”
The Cheetahs were thumped 45-6 when they played the Crusaders in New Zealand last season, but the year before that they won 20-13 at home when the Cantabrians were defending champions.
Cape Town – It is not every day that the Cheetahs get headline local billing in Super Rugby, so certain other South African franchises will be hoping they make the most of it in Saturday night’s “feature” slot (19:10 kick-off) against the Crusaders in Bloemfontein.
GALLERY: Super Rugby Week 12 action
Naka Drotske’s normally embattled charges have climbed to ninth on the overall table after three peculiarly high-scoring matches on the trot in which they have won two and earned 12 points out of a possible 15.
Considering that six teams will be involved in the newly-structured finals series, the Cheetahs could yet be long-shot candidates for sneaking into this phase.
They are a fairly distant 11 points off the currently sixth-placed Waratahs, so there is a mountain to climb, but at least the Free Staters have the knowledge that four of their remaining five conference matches (Crusaders, Rebels, Sharks, Stormers) are at home and the other requires only a short haul to Pretoria to play the Bulls.
Their revival started by bagging two bonus points in a freakish 50-47 defeat to the Hurricanes in Bloemfontein, soon after returning from their overseas tour, but then they stiffened their renaissance curve even more with successive full-house victories over the Brumbies (47-36 in Bloemfontein) and then Lions (53-19 in Johannesburg).
Cynics tempted to say of their latest win “it was only the Lions” would do well to bear in mind that this was easily the heaviest loss by the wooden-spoon side, who may have surrendered 10 of their 11 matches thus far but have run plenty of teams rather close.
So the Cheetahs must be doing something right at present, and now they have the perfect opportunity to underline their resurgence by throwing the kitchen sink at the Crusaders and doing the Stormers and Sharks a big favour if they can pull it off.
The Crusaders, cock-a-hoop after seeing off the Stormers at Newlands with an injury-ravaged squad, will again be under-strength in Bloemfontein but are likely also to be able to welcome back Richie McCaw and Dan Carter – not the worst infusions when times are tricky.
Still, their coach Todd Blackadder is hardly under-estimating the challenge in “Bloem”.
He told Sport24 at the post-match press conference at Newlands: “It’s tough on the road. It is critical at this stage of the competition that you don’t let people get too ahead (the Crusaders still lie second in the New Zealand conference to the Blues).
“It just creates more pressure, more anxiety. You’re also forced to play your best team week in and week out.
“Wary of the Cheetahs? Absolutely; I’ve been watching them over the last three weeks ... the amount of points they can score is unbelievable.
“They look like they’ve thrown the book away and are just going for all-out attack. They’ve been playing very well at home and we’ll have to prepare really well.”
The Cheetahs were thumped 45-6 when they played the Crusaders in New Zealand last season, but the year before that they won 20-13 at home when the Cantabrians were defending champions.
