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Cape Town - The Free State Cheetahs have revealed that three yellow cards this season is the main reason they dropped centre Andries Strauss for their Currie Cup clash against the Blue Bulls in Bloemfontein on Friday.
The Cheetahs delivered a lacklustre performance against the Lions last week in Johannesburg, losing 43-20. This prompted coach Naka Drotské to make six changes to the line-up for the meeting with the Pretoria-based side.
Drotské opted to drop centre Strauss altogether and replaced him with Barry Geel, while Riaan Smit moves from flyhalf to wing 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 the 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.
Strauss picked up his third yellow card of the season at Coca-Cola Park last week, and backline coach Hawies Fourie admitted to Volksblad that it played a big part in his omission.
"It was Andries's third yellow card this season. The first one was against the Lions in the Super-series when he made a dangerous tackle on Wicus van Heerden, the second was when he pulled Jacques Potgieter's hair against the Bulls and now against the Lions in the Currie Cup again for a dangerous tackle.
"You can't afford it and you lose matches because of it.
"The message is clear: We won't tolerate it. You can't concede stupid penalties and yellow cards. We felt the yellow card against the Lions was the last straw," said Fourie.
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
The Cheetahs delivered a lacklustre performance against the Lions last week in Johannesburg, losing 43-20. This prompted coach Naka Drotské to make six changes to the line-up for the meeting with the Pretoria-based side.
Drotské opted to drop centre Strauss altogether and replaced him with Barry Geel, while Riaan Smit moves from flyhalf to wing 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 the 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.
Strauss picked up his third yellow card of the season at Coca-Cola Park last week, and backline coach Hawies Fourie admitted to Volksblad that it played a big part in his omission.
"It was Andries's third yellow card this season. The first one was against the Lions in the Super-series when he made a dangerous tackle on Wicus van Heerden, the second was when he pulled Jacques Potgieter's hair against the Bulls and now against the Lions in the Currie Cup again for a dangerous tackle.
"You can't afford it and you lose matches because of it.
"The message is clear: We won't tolerate it. You can't concede stupid penalties and yellow cards. We felt the yellow card against the Lions was the last straw," said Fourie.
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
