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'Fab Friday' for Cheetahs

Cape Town - Without even playing, the Cheetahs have enjoyed a productive Friday in Super Rugby.

Both non-South African matches played on the day produced favourable outcomes for the Bloemfontein-based side’s quest to make the six-team playoffs cut for the first time.

The Cheetahs play a derby against the Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday (15:00), and will do so knowing that there is a possibility they could climb as many as three notches to fourth on the 2013 overall table if they can earn a full house of five points at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

That scenario would also require labouring compatriots the Stormers knocking over the Reds at Newlands, and the Brumbies getting their mojo back by beating the Blues away in an earlier Saturday fixture.

But whether those particular results go their way or not, Naka Drotske and company will have taken massive heart from the Friday results, which saw fellow “mid-table” challengers the Crusaders and Waratahs beaten by the Chiefs and Rebels respectively.

In the case of the Australian derby, the side from Melbourne earned their maiden triumph (24-22) over the more highly-touted visitors from Sydney: as one local commentator put it, “the geeks have finally got one over their bullies”.

It was a major blow to the Waratahs’ now rapidly-fading hopes of cracking the finals series.

The Cheetahs would also have been elated by the Crusaders crashing to high-riding fellow-New Zealanders the Chiefs (28-19) in a Hamilton nail-biter that could have gone either way until Aaron Cruden put over a killer penalty at the death to even take away a losing bonus point from the seven-time champions.

That outcome meant that the ‘Saders stayed rooted to fifth overall with 42 points from 12 matches, just two ahead of the Cheetahs who will complete their own 13th fixture against the Kings and of course have every intention of leapfrogging the Cantabrians.

Adriaan Strauss’s men enter the clash knowing that they won the first-round fixture against the Kings 26-12.

Although there is still plenty of room for ding-dong movement both in overall and conference terms, the Cheetahs have another advantage over the Crusaders (no remaining “off” weeks) in that they will bank four automatic bye points on the last day of ordinary season, when they are the only side not playing.

Friday’s Waikato Stadium classic was less good news for the SA conference-leading Bulls: they stayed second overall going into Saturday’s action and would have preferred a Crusaders victory.

Instead the Chiefs have stretched their lead to six points over the Loftus-based team, albeit having played two extra matches going into Saturday.

It increases the onus on the Bulls to at least win their tricky Durban encounter on Saturday with the Sharks (19:10), thus closing the gap to either one or two points.

The Chiefs have a bye next weekend, so armed with those extra four points will go into the June layoff period - for the Test-match window - at the top of the overall pile, come what may.

Teams:

Kings:

15. SP Marais, 14. Siyanda Grey, 13. Ronnie Cooke, 12. Andries Strauss, 11. Marcello Sampson, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 9. Shaun Venter, 8. Cornell du Preez, 7. Luke Watson (captain), 6. Wimpie van der Walt, 5. David Bulbring, 4. Steven Sykes, 3. Kevin Buys, 2. Bandise Maku, 1. Schalk Ferreira

Substitutes: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Grant Kemp, 18 Rynier Bernardo,  19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Shane Gates, 22 George Whitehead.

Cheetahs:

15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen

Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Rynhardt Landman, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Riaan Smit, 22 Raymond Rhule

*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing

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