Cheetahs back Goosen for PRO14 playoff

Bloemfontein - The Cheetahs have picked Johan Goosen at flyhalf for their historic PRO14 quarter-final against the Scarlets in Wales on Saturday.

It is only the second time in their history that the Cheetahs will play in a playoff match of an international tournament. 

Both of teams have been responsible for the most daring and exciting play in PRO14 and now they meet with a semi-Final trip to Glasgow on the line.  

Glasgow Warriors and Leinster are already safely through to the semi-finals having finished top of their Conferences.  

Scarlets have been unbeaten in their last 20 home matches in the PRO14, but the Cheetahs are not afraid to take up the challenge.             

"It’s quite exciting to hear that the support is there and everybody’s excited about the game," said coach Rory Duncan. 

"It’s obviously a special game for us, I don’t think there’s any moving away from the guys realising that they’re in the playoffs and it’s exciting for us to be there.

"With regards to the Scarlets and the way they’ve performed they’re obviously a quality outfit and they’ve got some great players in their line-up. We’ve obviously done our prep and our homework in terms of this game as we have with every other where we’ve faced quality players."

The match kicks off at 19:35 (SA time).

Teams:

Scarlets

15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 John Barclay, 7 James Davies, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 Steve Cummins, 4 Lewis Rawlins, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens (captain), 1 Rob Evans

Substitutes: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 Will Boyde, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Steff Hughes

Cheetahs

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Niel Marais, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charl Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 Lloyd Greeff