CHEETAHS VS 4 NOVEMBER1 SEP 14:00 • 16:30 BLOEMFONTEIN CONTENTS CHEETAHS TOYOTA CHEETAHS EDITORIAL TEAM Guinness PRO14 Welcome Message Ronel Pienaar Kobus le Roux Toyota Sponsor’s Message Chantelle du Plessis Free State Rugby Union Message ADVERTISING AND SUITES Wilna Jurack Free State Cheetahs (Pty) Ltd Message 084 854 4492 Message by the Free State Premier PHOTOGRAPHY Johan Pretorius Rememberance Day TOYOTA CHEETAHS Toyota Cheetahs Player Profiles MARKETING MANAGER Kobus le Roux Toyota Cheetahs vs Munster COPYRIGHT Guinness PRO14 Fixtures & Results The official Cheetahs programme is compiled by Yskoud.com under license from Cheetahs (Pty) Ltd. All registered trademarks remain the property of Cheetahs and are used with Cheetahs permission. The views expressed in this programme are not necessarily those of Yskoud.com or Cheetahs. All right reserved. No part of this programme may be reproduced in any form, without the prior arrangement of the Cheetahs. CheetahsRugby www.facebook.com/CheetahsRugby @CheetahsRugby www.fscheetahs.co.za You know the rugby has really taken shape when the autumn internationals come into view and you realise that a third of the Guinness PRO14 season is already in the books. Reflecting on the first seven rounds of the Guinness PRO14 it is so encouraging to see how the individual goals of our clubs, their coaches and players, our unions and our broadcasters has created such a thriving Championship. It has been a really competitive season so far and whether we’re seeing tighter scorelines, surprise results or games that go right down to the final kick, our teams are providing drama and quality in equal measure. With our new family of broadcasters across the UK, Ireland and Italy fans are now able to watch more Guinness PRO14 than ever before and it’s great that Premier Sports, eir sport and DAZN are making so many games available. Backing them up S4C and TG4 have been busy delivering new production standards that do a great service to the exciting rugby that’s on oer every week. Naturally, the pinnacle of the game is the international sphere. Our clubs put in an incredible amount of work to identify the best talent and ensure it goes from the academy to the pitch in the Guinness PRO14. That pipeline of talent that our teams push through to the world game and, indeed, the British & Irish Lions is a huge source of pride for their communities, their unions and everyone involved in our tournament. The result for the Guinness PRO14 is a stellar array of sustainable home-grown, world-class talent. Of course, on weekends such as this there is a clash with the club and international fixtures, which in the current season structure, is nigh on impossible to avoid. The reality around the fixture clashes is that revenue from the international game is still a key resource for our unions and their clubs. Through dual and central contracting it helps ensure the best talent remains in our countries so that they can inspire future generations by playing for their local teams all while ensuring their welfare is properly looked after. Our job is to ensure the Guinness PRO14 is the best tournament for players to play in, so they can fulfil their potential in front of the fans that it means the most to. For the Guinness PRO14 it means you can see the next generation of talent on show this weekend and the next Jordan Larmour is always ready to emerge and grab the headlines. Larmour was one of 76 newly capped internationals from the Championship last season and congratulations to him on his nomination for World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year. To be listed alongside South Africa’s Aphiwe Dyantyi and New Zealand’s Karl Tu'inukuafe is a real validation of his performances for Leinster and Ireland – not to mention those cracking tries he scored in the Guinness PRO14 last season. As for our coaches, weekends like this are when all their pathway planning and strategic nous come into play. Opportunity beckons for the players, but they make for one of the toughest environments for coaches to prepare for and operate in. It should be no surprise that coaches like Joe Schmidt, Rassie Erasmus and Gregor Townsend (and Danny Wilson) have gone on to the Test arena having proven themselves in our Championship. Scarlets’ boss Wayne Pivac will add his name to that list, too, when he becomes Wales head coach after the World Cup. O the pitch, I’d like to express our condolences to the Benetton family after the passing of Gilberto who is one of the co-founders of Benetton and alongside the rest of his siblings worked so hard to make Treviso a hub of sports activity. I’ve said before how impressive Benetton Rugby’s recent improvements have been and I trust Kieran Crowley’s team will have added inspiration to top last season’s achievements and, perhaps, reach the knock-out stages for the first time. As for Round 8, an intriguing weekend of fixtures await. Can Edinburgh get back on form against Scarlets? Will Ospreys’ young guns keep up their form against Ospreys? How will Leinster and Munster fare on their visits to South Africa, can Dragons or Zebre sneak a win away from home and can Benetton see o the challenge of a rejuvenated Ulster? KAARTJIES AANLYN BESKIKBAAR - www.fscheetahs.co.za The Guinness PRO14 trophy is the prize every team is fighting for and you can see the champions crowned in Glasgow on May 25 in Celtic Park as the Final takes place outside of a rugby venue for the very first time. To get access to the best oers check our ocial accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter or just visit bit.ly/glasgow2019 to get your tickets. Enjoy the game, Martin Anayi Chief Executive Ocer TOYOTA SPONSOR’S MESSAGE Welcome to today’s Currie Cup match at proud partner of the Toyota Free State the Toyota Stadium. Cheetahs. The Toyota Free State Cheetahs have a To the opposition – welcome to Toyota very proud, rich and successful history in Stadium. The talking will be done on the the oldest domestic rugby competition in field and will certainly prove to be tough, the world. thrilling and remind rugby lovers why they love the game so much. During the Super Sport Rugby Challenge, Daan Human and his technical staff did Lastly, and most importantly, to the loyal some remarkable work to lead the Toyota fans who come out and support the boys, Free State XV all the way to the semi-finals no matter what, thank you for the unwav- of the competition, and in the process ering support you show the Toyota Free unearthed some promising talent. This State Cheetahs. You are what it is all has given Franco Smith a fantastic about and it is you that the players want to platform to launch the Currie Cup make proud. Thank you again for campaign and the Toyota Free State supporting our boys! Cheetahs will no doubt hit the ground running. Enjoy the match. The Toyota Free State Cheetahs welcome many new players to their ranks, and this brings a good mix of experience, youth and flair. To Franco Smith, the rest of the coaching staff and the team, we stand alongside you and look forward to writing the next chapter of proudly Toyota Free State Cheetahs rugby with you. We know that Andrew Kirby the “never say die” attitude will be on President and CEO display again this season and that you of Toyota South Africa and the players will make everyone proud. We look forward to the Currie Cup Com- petition and will continue to show the support we have provided over the past few years as not only a sponsor, but as a FREE STATE CHEETAHS (PTY) LTD MESSAGE CHEETAHS I would like to convey my sincere appreciation During this period the Cheetahs won the and gratitude to all the Cheetah supporters, Currie Cup three times and shared it once. sponsors, season tickets- and suite holders, More than can be said of most teams. A five and our partner SuperSport and everyone who year business plan with great prospects was stood by us through tough times. implemented but unfortunately SANZAAR decided to cut the competition back to 15 I would like to give some perspective on teams and the Toyota Cheetahs was circumstances under which Free State Rugby eliminated. had to build and survive over the years and therefore we value and need all our supporters The Toyota Cheetahs challenged SARU and and friends. after hard negotiations a settlement was reached. The Toyota Cheetahs took the Top 10 Rugby was introduced in the 1990’s initiative to join PRO14 and were given the with teams from South Africa, New Zeeland opportunity to play rugby on a highly and Australia. The top 3 Currie Cup teams professional level. participated in the competition, which included the Free State. Free State is the only province in South Africa who has to participate simultaneously in the Later on the competition expanded with the Currie Cup Premier Division and Guinness inclusion of a fourth South African team. The PRO14. We realised that this is not viable, but Free State was a powerful entity in those years. we didn’t have a choice. Currie Cup is simply In 1998 the Lions didn’t finish under the top 4 too important for us. SARU is incisively Currie Cup teams and after negotiations with looking at next year’s competitions and the ‘smaller’ Unions, regional teams were hopefully it will not overlap again next year.