The weekend could almost not be more perfect for a bunch of sports enthusiasts, with the Proteaboks playing against the Gayle Force Windies today, tomorrow we will be at the Zebra Stripped Mbombela Stadium watching two test matches live and on Sunday Bafana Bafana tackle Ethiopia, it’s like that Castle add, we just don’t have to celebrate everything in one day, but over three days, Castle will be thanking us after their revenue will undoubtedly be a bit bigger with us in Nelspruit.

Hope the weather holds up, according to our very reliable weather websites it is sunny and lekker hot up there, nothing more can be asked for.

For all those travelling up, travel safe and see you guys there. Good times await.

Peace!

Tomorrow will be a classic clash between the two SA inland teams, and Bloemfontein has not made it any secret who they support in tomorrow’s clash!!

Go Cheetahs!!!

Peace!

A lot of people have always pointed out the team placed in 4^th has more points than the team placed 3^rd, which has been the case in the past with the Australian teams having the easier of the three Conferences, so what was their master plan, well, give the Aussie teams one week head start, this seems to have leveled everything out and the table leaders are actually placed in numerical order. (Yes I know it is because of the B&I Lions tour, but it works)

I also believe that this weekend’s fixtures were specifically selected ahead of the International Window to allow for the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks an “easy” run into the Springbok season as the bulk of the Springboks will come from these provinces, with the “Need to be match fit seeing as the Captain playes for them” Stormers taking on the “Believed to be a cricket score team in the beginning of the season” Kings taking on each other, and then the “according to some Bulls supporters, the team that just wants to end on top of the Kings, but surprised many” Cheetahs taking on the “HM” Bulls and the Sharks getting a bye after taking on the mighty Bulls the weekend before.

Things have changed since this plan has been implemented, with the match between the Cheetahs and Bulls possibly a conference decider and the Kings by no means the push over originally expected. This is why I love this game, any team can win on any day and this being Super Rugby it makes it even better because nothing pleases me more than an underdog beating a NZ and Aus team.

P.S. I was watching the classic matches on SS1 with the B&I Lions tours and noticed something I haven’t seen in a while, when was the last time you saw international players swop jerseys after the match?

Peace!

The Cheetahs for the first time since becoming an entity of their own, well, rather a Central Union between the Cheetahs, Griquas and Griffons, have a shot at making the Top 6 and if they can step up and win these last few crucial home games, even end up the on top of the SA Conference and with some results going their way, end up top 2 and earn a home semi in Bloemfontein, maybe even bringing the Reds back and giving Quade the chance to have some more biltong.

Will the fairy-tale of 2013 continue and the Cheetahs bounce back from last week’s pathetic outing, which was like watching highlights of previous years, no imagination, no defence and worst of all was the handling and holding onto the ball, if they wish to take on the Reds and come out with a chance, they have to step up and play their 2013 game, a big positive is the return of Lappies this weekend, he should help settle the defensive structures again.

One key point though, is going to be the Genia – Cooper show, with Piet van Zyl getting the nod against arguably the best scrumhalf in the competition and Elgar Watts getting his first start with Naka clearly going for a running and attacking rather than a tactical flyhalf against playmaker Cooper, this can either go really well for the Cheetahs or it can go really, and I mean really bad for the boys from Bloemfontein.

I will back my team through anything, but if they run out and play the same as they did last week, I will switch channels and watch 7de Laan with my wife.

Go Cheetahs!

Peace!

The Central franchise have never been strangers to losing players at the end of a season, well, that is what most Cheetahs supporters will tell you. They seem to find comfort in past results that did not go the way of the Cheetahs by blaming it on other provinces who can pay more for a players services and “steal” them. This however is not my point of view, all provinces loose players to others and a lot of our talent goes overseas to apply their trade.

The Cheetahs will without a doubt lose a couple of players at the end of this season and that is the price of a successful Super Rugby campaign by an underdog. In the media, Robert Ebersohn and Willie le Roux have been approached and I can think the only thing that will keep le Roux is a Springbok call up. Outside of the public eye, Lappies, Oosthuizen, Strauss and Rhule have been approached by both overseas and local franchises.

An exodus is not necessarily the only outcome, if the Cheetahs can continue on this successful path and claim a playoff spot, they could find themselves in the favourable position of some lucrative sponsorships which could help them hold onto their talent. Continuing with winning ways will also let supporters flock to the stadium, bums in seats mean income, more bums, more income.

In the Cheetahs magazine, Harold Verster contributes the new Cheetahs spirit to a fresh approach by the management of the FSRU, they are running the Central Union as a business now and have invested heavily in Marketing the Cheetahs Brand, about time I would say.

According to people in the know, Lappies might be out for 2-3 weeks with his elbow injury and this could be a big blow, not only to the Cheetahs defensive structures but in the team itself, luckily Viljoen seems to be back on form and Boom Prinsloo should cover on the bench.

The Cheetahs have played 10 straight games and after this week’s bye, they will play 6 in a row again, 4 at home and two away in PE and Cape Town. If they manage to continue and secure a playoff spot, their second bye on the last weekend might be the biggest blessing any team can receive.

Peace!

The Cheetahs have named a unchanged team and will look to continue on their winning ways. If they can stick to playing intelligent rugby and the front row dominate again, the Kings will be in for a long day, however if they suffer a brain fart like they did against the Bulls and try that kick-chase game plan and play the man and not the ball, the Kings might be in with a chance.

Cheeky has also been working hard in the background to try and unsettle the Cheetahs. He, like every coach in Super Rugby, knows that when your team starts performing well that some players will be headhunted and with the allure of the €, some players just can’t say no. In this week Robert Ebersohn was approached by Montpellier and he declined because the Cheetahs did not want to release him at the end of the Super season. This spelled opportunity for Cheeky and he rang up the president of Montpellier Mohed Altrad and asked him to spark some controversy, in return he will hook him up some of his political palls.

Little did Mr Watson know that the Cheetahs are not as easily phased and his weak attempt at disrupting the Cheetahs before their match failed miserably.

In other news, luckily the newly planted New Zealand grass that covers Free State Stadium has recovered after last week’s practice session which saw the Cheetahs practice with the sprinklers on to prepare for the Sharks game in rainy weather, if the weather holds up in Bloemfontein it should be sunny and we could see some attractive rugby on our screens and of course for the lucky supporters who will be able to view this match live at the FSS.

I will be wearing my Cheetahs jersey again tomorrow with pride and a smile on my face.

Go Cheetahs!!

Peace

Please note that this is a tongue in cheek post and not factual at all.

I have always liked the Sharks and have considered them my second team, if such a thing even exists, and have liked the way they apply their trade on the game. That was until this Saturday.

They seemed to have lost their mojo and most teams have worked them out and their ability to create something from nothing seems to have left with Freddie. Sadly you can see that the pressure is getting to them, with Daniel and Steyn acting like 4 year old children, throwing their toys out of the cot after the Willie le Roux try, which didn’t really matter at the end and then their coach hits back saying that it is the Cheetahs fault that the Sharks lost. Boohoo.

The facts are, the Sharks have now not scored a try in three matches and tries win matches, simple as that. Plumbtree says that the Cheetahs played negatively by kicking the ball back to the Sharks the whole game, that is called strategy, did he expect the Cheetahs to go out in the rain and play their running game in atrocious ball handling conditions? That being said, the Sharks also kicked a lot, but most importantly, the Cheetahs handed them the ball by kicking it to them, possession is key in rugby matches and the Sharks had most of it but couldn’t use it, and that somehow is now the fault of the “negative” Cheetahs.

I think things are not well in camp Sharks with both captain and coach showing signs of pressure and frustration.

Back home, well done boytjies!!! Beating the Sharks in the tank with rainy weather is something a lot of teams have struggled with and you did it. Somehow being the only Cheetah supporter at a bachelors this weekend amongst 6 Sharks supporters, the beer and brandy tasted a lot better.

I hope the Sharks bounce back this weekend and we don’t see a reply of last year’s final and get rid of their negative frame of mind.

Go Cheetahs!!

Peace!

One thing is for certain, the Cheetahs always seemed to save their best rugby for local derby matches and that would generally cost them on tour and against foreign teams visiting Bloemfontein. That seems to have changed for the central franchise as they got their first win this year against a struggling Highlanders, who without Adam Thompson have not fired this year, the Cheetahs went on to beat the Waratahs and Force and returning to Bloemfontein beating the Rebels with a bonus point victory.

As mentioned before, people around the office were telling me that the Cheetahs had 4 “easy” games and any team would have gotten the 4 victories in a row, things were not going to be so fortunate for the Cheetahs against the stronger unions, Stormers being one of those. Many will argue that after Saturday that the Cheetahs were lucky again to play against a demoralised and struggling Western Cape outfit making it 5 wins in a row, I, really don’t see it that way. Because with that logic, the Bulls are also struggling and this should then be another easy game for the Cheetahs, which I can assure you, it definitely will not be.

I hope that Deon Fourie played the Lotto on Saturday,  he was probably the luckiest player on the pitch and here is why, the first try by the Stormers the ball rotated a full 180◦ out of his hand but was adjudged to be under control, the next try he was offside by a mile (Sarel Pretorius was not offside with his try, so that does not cancel this out. J) and the Brussow penalty where Fourie “placed” the ball and Brussow should have let go was actually not correct, Fourie never released the ball, simply placed his arm on the ground and got up again. Funny then that Alistair Coetzee had the following to say “I guess you also need a bit of luck in top-level sport… the ball doesn’t seem to be bouncing our way at the moment.”

Then Jantjies seemed to have forgotten he was on a rugby field, almost beheaded Strauss with that “dangerous tackle”. Anyway. The Cheetahs for once stepped up and won a tight game they should have and I will not allow anybody to take anything away from them on this victory.

The atmosphere on Free State Stadium was electrifying and I am glad that I was a part of it, if the Cheetahs continue playing like this, people will continue flocking to watch the game in life action rather than on DSTV 201.

Keep running Cheetahs!!

That however doesn’t come without its complaints from the rugby public, firstly there was an outcry from Bulls supporters about the Referee’s decision at the end of the match giving the Brumbies the game. Here is the video of the incident, thing is, this happened after the 80^th minute with the Bulls attacking from their 10 metre line, if they really wanted that 1 point more, they would have kicked the ball out after the hooter went and taken the 2 points instead of being stuck with 1, let’s remember that call last year for the Brumbies vs. Cheetahs.

Secondly would be the CapeSaders which everyone is going so crazy about, I cannot but wonder if the Stormers won there would be this much fuss about it. Bryan Habana joined the choir of the unsatisfied mob, because had it not been for these “traitors” the Stormers would surely have won, it is not their game plan that cost them the game at all. WPRU have now announced that they will investigate the behaviour of the CapeSaders, and if they are serious I can only see one of two things happening when the Stromers face NZ teams:

• Separate the fans, one side hosting Stormers and one side hosting the opposition supporters to hold the peace.
• Ban all non Stormer supporters from the game

Then there is my solution to this entire mess:

• Just ignore them, don’t give them camera time, writing 50 articles and promote them before the games. If they aren’t pissing anybody off, they will soon lose interest and doing it.

I can’t really think of what else this investigation will achieve. I just can’t help but wonder how many Stormers Supporters there will be at Free State Stadium this weekend mixed in between the Cheetah supporters without too much of a fuss being made, yes it is two local sides, but it is still a divided stance and someone from the Cheetahs is going to want to moer someone of the Stormers or vice versa.

Congratulations to the Cheetahs for being the only SA team to win this past weekend keeping the flag waving. On that, some Bull or sour Lions supporter told me today that the Cheetahs had a lucky tour and that anybody would have come back from it with 3 out of 4. I thought for a second and answered him, yes the Waratahs are an easy win, just ask the Blues, so are the Force, just ask the Reds, who co-incidentally beat the Bulls. I had to agree that coming back from the tour and playing the Rebels is somewhat a bonus, but still a match that needs to be won. The Bulls got lucky by having a Bye after returning from their tour having two weeks to shake of the jet lag, where the Cheetahs are facing the Stormers and then the Bulls after their Rebels game, both teams who have had byes and the Stormers still need to go on tour.

If the Cheetahs ever had a chance to finish in the Top 6 it would be this year, seeing as they miss the Crusaders and Brumbies, I will be supporting them full out!

Did I mention that I got 100% on Superbru?

Peace!

The highway looks a lot like the Super Rugby Log at the moment, with only 4 points separating the Waratahs at nr 11 with the Sharks at nr 3, between these two, a lot of “traffic” patiently waiting to get to their off-ramps that will get them to where they want to be.

Getting to the off-ramp though, there are going to be certain obstructions in your way, the most important will be keeping discipline on the road and avoid getting those yellow and red letters and being pulled over by the authorities throwing a spanner in the works.

Secondly will be adapting to accidents, getting a good panel beater to fix your first choice vehicle while trusting the vehicle supplied in the meantime to get you where you want to be reliably and fulfilling what is expected of it, once the panel beating is done, getting you back on track.

There is also the situation that you cannot always choose, the off-ramp you get off at. Of course everybody is aiming to get off on the best off-ramp that will lead you to the better job, however, there are only 6 spots available by top employment, the rest will have to be happy with lesser glory and work harder to get promoted to the top 6 jobs the following year.

Winning is much better…

than losing the big job

I hope that the Cheetahs use their vast education and use their street smarts to nail one of those top 6 spots this year.

On a different note, funny how winning three in a row can change your status on Superbru, usually picking the Cheetahs brings up this warning, but given the ass-whipping the Rebels received from the Sharks, this is what Superbru now has to say picking against the Cheetahs.

Go Cheetahs!!!

Peace!