The Toyota Cheetahs have shifted the focus to knockout rugby as they prepare to tackle the Lions in Johannesburg in the semi-finals of the Currie Cup.

The Cheetahs have renewed confidence heading into the semi-finals after breaking their three-match losing streak to ensure their title defence continues.

Victor Sekekete. Picture: Morgan Piek

On the weekend the Cheetahs turned in one of their most complete games to date by thumping the Pumas 41-14 in Nelspruit. The match at the Mbombela Stadium was effectively a quarter-final and a win was non-negotiable.

In the match against the ever-difficult Pumas, the Cheetahs' set-piece worked exceptionally well, especially the lineouts with which they had been struggling a bit, while the scrum was very good. In addition, they looked sharp on the attack as well as on defence.

The Lions are no doubt the form team in the competition and they won’t be easy to roll over, especially taking into account that they may field some United Rugby Championship players, to give them valuable game time before the intercontinental competition kicks off.

While the Cheetahs have had a difficult time of late, their captain Victor Sekekete told OFM Sport that knockout rugby is a different beast.

“It’s a different ball game now – what happened there is in the past,” said Sekekete.

“The only thing that matters now is the game on the day and that’s what we are going to make use of and we are going to take advantage of that.

The former Cheetah, Tapiwa Mafura, is one of the Lions' danger men. Picture: Morgan Piek

“We had a good game against the Lions, it’s just that we didn’t score. This time around we’ll be focussing a lot on that and taking the confidence from this game against the Pumas.”

Saturday’s semi-final at Ellis Park is scheduled to kick off at 14:30. At 17:15 the Bulls will host the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg/mvh