The Springbok veteran is still in the process of moving back to Bloemfontein from Belfast and is expected to join the squad in time for this weeks’ Currie Cup derby against the Tafel Lager Griquas.

Back-to-back bonus point wins see the Peacock Blues lead the standings, while the Cheetahs beat the Blue Bulls 43-27 on Friday.

After the win at Loftus Versfeld the Cheetahs coach, Franco Smith, said that he hopes to have Pienaar join the squad this week.

“Ryan will come as soon as possible. There were a lot of festivities in Ireland lately, so he couldn’t get a proper quote to for his furniture to be moved.

“He didn’t want to let his wife travel with the kids by themselves. I’ve traveled abroad and I know exactly what it means to pack up and travel.

“He will join us as soon as he gets across and hopefully it is this week.”

Meanwhile, the win over the Bulls saw the Cheetahs jump to second in the overall standings after two rounds.

While the Cheetahs are delighted to have secured a bonus point against the Bulls and earn their first win in the competition is October 2017, Smith, was the first to admit that they are not a polished outfit year.

“We are not going to fool ourselves. There is still a lot of hard work ahead for us. We did lack a little bit of game fitness.

“The fact that we didn’t have any teams to play or prepare against after the preseason definitely showed towards the backend of the game. This was also visible especially on the attack, so there is a lot of room for improvement.”

Saturday’s derby between the Free State Cheetahs and Griquas at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 15:00.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport