The Toyota Cheetahs captain Victor Sekekete has lamented his team discipline following their disappointing Currie Cup defeat to the Sharks in Bloemfontein the weekend. A late Eduan Keyter try led to the Sharks beating the Cheetahs 25-20, and the Currie Cup champions feel they let this one slip through their fingers.

Apart from their discipline, their handling and line-outs were far from satisfactory on the night. The defeat has put the Cheetahs’ title defence under a lot of pressure now and from here on out there is no more room for slip-ups as quite a couple of teams, including the Sharks, have put themselves in contention for the semi-finals.

Sekekete told OFM Sport their discipline in particular was disappointing and this needs to improve as it more often than not derails them.

“That’s what we spoke about – we created a lot of opportunities and we just didn’t finish,” said Sekekete. “Discipline again – on the other hand … we get into their half then it’s a penalty, penalty and we’re back in our own half. It costs us and we can’t work like that. We said to the team that we need to be better and we need to finish. We create so many opportunities, but we’re just not finishing.”

With regards to facing the Lions this week at home, Sekekete added that the pressure is on them now as they are now in a position where they are chasing a home semifinal. The skipper added that it’s important to turn in a much better performance this week.

‘We know they are going to want to pick up the tempo’

“After this game, the targets are on our backs now. The Lions are going to come here with the same mindset. We know that they are going to want to play and pick up the tempo. From our side, we need to pitch up and take it to them.”

On Saturday at 17:00, the Cheetahs will tackle the second-placed Lions at the Toyota Stadium.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg/mc