Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Versatile Free State Cheetahs and Springbok prop Coenie Oosthuizen says he will in future only play at tighthead for his province.
Oosthuizen can pack down at both sides of the scrum but according to the Volksblad website, he endures less pain in his neck at tighthead.
A 23-year-old says he won't take any chances in future, despite a recent scan clearing him to play. "From now on I'll only play tighthead for the Cheetahs... it's better for my neck," he said.
Oosthuizen says he'll only consider playing loosehead should the Springboks require him to do so. He started his career as a tighthead, but the Cheetahs started using his as a loosehead from 2009.
On Saturday he comes up against the promising youngster Steven Kitshoff from Western Province - a challenge he relishes. "It's only my third game in four months. I'm really hungry to start a match and just play. But I'll probably struggle for a full 80 minutes... so we'll have to see."
The Cheetahs need a win at Newlands to have any chance of making the semi-finals, but perhaps more important is the fact that a loss may leave them in danger of losing their top flight status.
Should they go down on Saturday the chances are good that they will end up at the bottom of the log, which would mean a promotion-relegation battle against the EP Kings.
The clash against WP kicks off at 17:05 on Saturday.
Teams:
Western Province:
15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Don Armand, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Brok Harris, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Marcel Brache, 22 Gio Aplon
Free State Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Nico Scheepers, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Francois Uys, 6 Hendro Scholtz, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Marcel van der Merwe
Substitutes: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Ross Geldenhuys, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Philip Snyman, 22 Rayno Benjamin
Oosthuizen can pack down at both sides of the scrum but according to the Volksblad website, he endures less pain in his neck at tighthead.
A 23-year-old says he won't take any chances in future, despite a recent scan clearing him to play. "From now on I'll only play tighthead for the Cheetahs... it's better for my neck," he said.
Oosthuizen says he'll only consider playing loosehead should the Springboks require him to do so. He started his career as a tighthead, but the Cheetahs started using his as a loosehead from 2009.
On Saturday he comes up against the promising youngster Steven Kitshoff from Western Province - a challenge he relishes. "It's only my third game in four months. I'm really hungry to start a match and just play. But I'll probably struggle for a full 80 minutes... so we'll have to see."
The Cheetahs need a win at Newlands to have any chance of making the semi-finals, but perhaps more important is the fact that a loss may leave them in danger of losing their top flight status.
Should they go down on Saturday the chances are good that they will end up at the bottom of the log, which would mean a promotion-relegation battle against the EP Kings.
The clash against WP kicks off at 17:05 on Saturday.
Teams:
Western Province:
15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Don Armand, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Brok Harris, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Marcel Brache, 22 Gio Aplon
Free State Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Nico Scheepers, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Francois Uys, 6 Hendro Scholtz, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Marcel van der Merwe
Substitutes: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Ross Geldenhuys, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Philip Snyman, 22 Rayno Benjamin
