Cheetahs ring changes

Johannesburg - Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has rung the changes to his Currie Cup side for their encounter on Friday against the Blue Bulls in Bloemfontein.

The Cheetahs delivered a lacklustre performance against the Lions last week in Johannesburg, losing 43-20. This prompted the coach to make six changes to the line-up for the meeting with the Pretoria-based side.

Drotské opted to drop centre Andries Strauss altogether and replaced him with Barry Geel, while Riaan Smit moves from flyhalf to winger instead of Nico Scheepers, who finds himself on the bench.

Sias Ebersohn, who leaves the Cheetahs at the end of the season for Australian Super Rugby side Western Force, earns his first start at flyhalf.

Ebersohn will partner with Sarel Pretorius, with scrumhalf Pieter van Zyl moving to the bench.

Kabamba Floors and Frans Viljoen come into the loose trio for Davon Raubenheimer and Boom Prinsloo respectively. At lock, Andries Ferreira comes in for Waltie Vermeulen.

"We didn't play well against the Lions. Our defence wasn't up to scratch and we didn't convert our chances," said Drotské.

"Those are two very important aspects of our play we need to sort out before taking on the Bulls."

The clash at the Free State Stadium kicks off at 19:10 on Friday evening.

Teams:

Cheetahs:

15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Riaan Smit, 13 Robert Ebersohn (captain), 12 Barry Geel, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Kabamba Floors, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Frans Viljoen, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Hercu Liebenberg, 1 Trevor Nyakane.

Substitutes: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Francois Uys, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Philip Snyman, 22 Nico Scheepers.

Blue Bulls:

15 Jürgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Ulrich Beyers, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Clayton Blommetjies, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Ruan Snyman, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 CJ Stander, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn

Substitutes: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Warwick Tecklenburg, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Lionel Cronjé, 22 Jan Serfontein