Highlanders v Cheetahs

[Darwin]

Highlanders team:
1 Jamie Mackintosh (C), 2 Jason Rutledge, 3 Chris King, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 5 Josh Bekhuis, 6 Adam Thomson, 7 Alando Soakai, 8 Nasi Manu, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 10 Colin Slade, 11 Siale Piutau, 12 Shaun Treeby, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 14 Kade Poki, 15 Ben Smith.
Reserves: Mo Schwalger, David Te Moana, Tom Donnelly, Nick Crosswell, Aaron Smith, Robbie Robinson, James Paterson.

Great to see Slade passed fit for the game, as he looked good in his first game for the Highlanders last week. Interesting to see Donnelly back on the bench. I expected they would rotate the locks but thought it would be Hoeata, rather than Donnelly, taking a turn on the bench this week. A couple of changes on the bench with Robinson returning after being stood down last week for disciplinary reasons, and Te Moana back as well. I'm happy Robinson is back, but can't work out why Te Moana keeps getting selected...

Reasonably confident going into the game, however despite being at the bottom of the table the Cheetahs have been pretty competitive in most of their games this year (apart from against the Reds). Haven't seen the Cheetahs team announced yet, though it looks as though they have had further injury problems, with Philip van der Walt out with a knee injury.

The weather has been horrible in Dunedin this week, but it is forecast to improve in time for Fridays game (though I expect it will still be pretty chilly..)

 

[Larksea]

landers need to bag the points from this one, 5 if they can. But they will need to be paient to get it. Work the ball through the forwards and then get the backs involved when the cheetahs defence is under pressure and they should be good. Hold posession if it's dry, wet will require more kicking.

 

[Amobokoboko]

I hope the Cheetahs can claim their second win, after all the hard work they did the last weeks they deserve it.

 

[dan the man]

I'm picking the Highlanders... although the Cheetahs have been competitive so far, with even more injury woes and a good looking Highlanders pack it's going to be a very tall order.

A win for the Highlanders could also put them back in the top 6 (other results pending) which is where they need to stay now that we're a third of the way through the season.

 

[Amobokoboko]

A hard choice to make, the Highlanders have been brilliant, but the Cheetahs just deserve it. I hope the better teams nails it down. Hoping for a game with lots of tries.

 

[ranger]

A hard choice to make, the Highlanders have been brilliant, but the Cheetahs just deserve it. I hope the better teams nails it down. Hoping for a game with lots of tries.

Then youre probably watching the wrong two teams haha. They both have decent backs but they are probably the two best grafting packs in the competition. I expect trench warfare

 

[Darwin]

Cheetahs:
15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Philip Burger, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Corne Uys, 11 Wilmaure Louw, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Kabamba Floors, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp (c), 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Coenie Oosthuisen.
Replacements: 16 Skipper Badenhorst 17 Lourens Adriaanse, 18 Martin Muller, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Naas Olivier, 22 Riaan Smit

No surprises in the Cheetahs team named. The Cheetahs main attacking weapon will again probably be Sarel Pretorius. He has looked very dangerous whenever I have watched him - Jimmy Cowan and the Highlanders loosies will have to keep a very close eye on him to prevent him breaking close to the ruck. I like the look of Oosthuisen as well, as he seems incredibly mobile for such a big man, however he does seem to get penalised a lot a scrum time. Looking forward to the clash between the two number 8's as well, as both a very strong ball runners.

Overall I'm reasonably confident of a Highlanders win, by about 10 points.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Didn't the Cheetahs score tries in most of their last games? Well, anyway will be at work so ideal to wake up.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Highlanders should be good for a decent win. I say 28 - 15. I'm just glad that current captain Wilhelm Steenkamp has managed to stay injury free for these last few games to give the Cheetahs some semblence of consistency.

Hopefully they will get some personel back and bag a few points when back in Bloemfontein for pride's sake.

 

[Amobokoboko]

For how many seasons did Steenkamp with the Cheetahs, I really enjoy his interviews after the game. Maybe the key reason why I'm following the Cheetahs this season.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

For how many seasons did Steenkamp with the Cheetahs, I really enjoy his interviews after the game. Maybe the key reason why I'm following the Cheetahs this season.

He came over from the Bulls this year as cover for the now retired vice captain Nico Breedt and veteran David de Villiers who moved to the Lions. Pretty good move LOL; from 5th choice lock behind Matfield, Botha, Rossouw, Van der Merwe and maybe even Kruger and Mabeta to captain of the Cheetahs (even though 4 other captains had to get injured before him).

Prefered Cheetahs 15 showing injury in red;

1 Coenie Oosthuizen
2 Adriaan Strauss
3 WP Nel
4 Francois Uys
5 Wilhelm Steenkamp
6 Heinrich Brussow
7 Juan Smith
8 Frans Viljoen
9 Sarel Pretorius
10 Naas Olivier
11 Jongi Nokwe
12 Andries Strauss
13 Robert Ebersohn
14 Philip Snyman
15 Riaan Viljoen

That's one conditioning coach that needs to get shown the door.

 

[Seaton]

Apparently the Cheetahs are going to stop training wherever they usually train in Bloem, they say its possibly the wet and heavy fields* that is the source behind the injuries/ greater suseptability to them.

* Wet fields in the Free State, naaaah

 

[Larksea]

total stab in the dark but would be interesting to see how many trys the cheetahs have scored this season and compare it to the sharks or stormers. May even me more

 

[Amobokoboko]

it's sad to see the numbers of injuries, hopefully they can play their best team before the end of the season.

 

[Darwin]

total stab in the dark but would be interesting to see how many trys the cheetahs have scored this season and compare it to the sharks or stormers. May even me more

The Cheetahs have scored 10 tries (12th overall), one more than the Stormers (9 tries, 13th overall), but quite a few less than the Sharks (17 tries, 5th overall).

The Highlanders have scored one more try than the Cheetahs (11 tries, 11th overall).

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Apparently the Cheetahs are going to stop training wherever they usually train in Bloem, they say its possibly the wet and heavy fields* that is the source behind the injuries/ greater suseptability to them.

* Wet fields in the Free State, naaaah

Yeah, I've literally bounced off of a Free State field once in high school. You almost want to wear flat shoes as the studs hardly penetrate the 'concrete' fields.

The Cheetahs have scored 10 tries (12th overall), one more than the Stormers (9 tries, 13th overall), but quite a few less than the Sharks (17 tries, 5th overall).

The Highlanders have scored one more try than the Cheetahs (11 tries, 11th overall).

That counts for very little. A more to the point question would be how many games those teams have won. That paints another picture entirely.

 

[Darwin]

Just a quick weather update: Been sunny all day here, so we should get a good game of running rugby. It's not overly warm though, so I'm going to have to put a few layers on before I go to the match!

 

[Amobokoboko]

I'm ready to cheer, hopefully they will bring some good rugby

 

[Seaton]

Just a quick weather update: Been sunny all day here, so we should get a good game of running rugby. It's not overly warm though, so I'm going to have to put a few layers on before I go to the match!

Good news, Supersport were broadcasting images of a huge storm of the sea with really choppy waters, must be of a different area which is good to hear


Ridiculous that the ref allowed that try, the Highlander was clearly trying to block the defender from tackling Thompson

 

[Amobokoboko]

Crap, already 10 points behind.