The Toyota Cheetahs will welcome back two senior statesmen for Saturday night’s Currie Cup clash against Western Province in Cape Town.

While the Cheetahs sustained injuries to three key players a week ago against the Blue Bulls in Bloemfontein, they have the quality to fall back on.

With Friedle Olivier ruled out through concussion, the Cheetahs welcome back the hard-grafting flanker, Gideon van der Merwe.

In the backline, Evardi Boshoff returns from a three-month injury layoff and will start in the number 13 jersey. Evardi hasn’t played for the Cheetahs since January after he was contracted to the Ospreys on an extended loan spell.

The Springbok, Oupa Mohoje, in turn, has been named on the bench for the Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs coach, Izak van der Westhuizen, told OFM Sport that this is an important game and they must build on their second-half performance against the Bulls.

“That second half was much-much closer to the way we want to play,” said the former Free State lock.

“In the first, we did a lot of playing as well and we created a lot of opportunities. There was a kick that didn’t go out while one or two little errors put us on the back foot game. Having said that, there were a lot of positives.”

Angelo Davids. Photo: Morgan Piek

Van der Westhuizen added that depending on the weather, it should be an expansive game as both teams like running with the ball. “It will depend on the weather that we get because it seems to change every 15 minutes at the moment, it will be an expansive game.

“They’re a team that likes to throw the ball around, and in their previous game against the Bulls, their intent was still to run. So, I think it should still be a good game.”

Saturday’s match between Western Province and the Cheetahs at the Cape Town Stadium will kick off at 19:10.

Western Province - 15 Luke Burger, 14 JC Mars, 13 Justin Geduld, 12 Damian Markus, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Willie Engelbrecht (captain), 7 Divan Fuller, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Hendré Stassen, 3 Corné Weilbach, 2 JJ Kotzé, 1 Vernon Matongo

Replacements - 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Mhleli Khuzwayo, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 André Goedhals, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Asad Moos, 22 Kyle Smith, 23 Joshua Boulle

Cheetahs - 15 Cohen Jasper, 14 Michael Annies, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Daniel Kasende, 10 Ethan Wentzel, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Aidon Davis, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Hencus van Wyk, 2 Corné Fourie, 1 Schalk Ferreira

Replacements - 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Mzwanele Zito, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Neels Volschenk, 22 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 23 Reinardt Fortuin

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek mvh