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Cheetahs boost their depth

───   MORGAN PIEK 12:06 Mon, 15 Oct 2018

Cheetahs boost their depth | News Article
Sias Koen - Morgan Piek

The Toyota Cheetahs will be resuming their team training on Tuesday morning after a week off from the normal team activities.


Due to the European Champions and Challenge Cup fixtures being played up north, the Cheetahs are enjoying some much needed time away from the game.

The Cheetahs could welcome a couple of new faces in the coming days as they bolster their squad for the remainder of the season.

The Griquas loose-forward, Sias Koen, and prop Ewald van der Westhuizen may be making a move to Bloemfontein, as well as the Sharks fullback, Rhyno Smith.

Koen, has a big engine and is a strong runner with a ball in hand, while he also has a lot of stopping power in the defence. Koen’s ability to read the game well has led to him being somewhat of a try-scoring machine for the Peacock Blues. The system at the Griquas is a lot different to that of Cheetahs and it will be very interesting to see how the 24-year-olds’ game develops in the City of Roses.

Smith, who represented the North West University Pukke in the Varsity Cup and the Leopards in the Currie Cup 1st Division, was linked with a move and was in negotiations with the Cheetahs back in 2016. He, however, moved with the coach Robert du Preez from the Leopards to the Sharks, but has enjoyed limited game time.

Smith has been a part of the Springbok Sevens set up and this will provide an even more exciting element to his game. He is versatile enough to play at fullback and at flyhalf, while he also no slouch on the wing.

He has one of the most accurate highballs in the game and this will be very valuable to the Cheetahs, especially in Europe.

It is believed that the current Leopards fullback, Tapiwe Mafura, is also still on his way to the Cheetahs and he will also be very exciting in the attack. More importantly, it will create a lot of competition among the outside backs in the squad.

The Griquas lock, Sintu Manjezi, is another player heading to the Cheetahs in the coming days.

The Cheetahs host the Cardiff Blues next Saturday at the Toyota Stadium in the Guinness Pro14.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport

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