The weekly, Rapport, indicated that the Cheetahs are set to get some much-needed and welcome help in their coaching ranks.

The Cheetahs will make use of the services of the Springboks’ scrum guru, Daan Human, as well as Springbok assistant coach, Duane Vermeulen.

Human is a former Free State tighthead and coach, while the double Rugby World Cup winner, Vermeulen, played for the Cheetahs back in the day. Vermeulen moved into coaching last year following his retirement from the sport after an illustrious 17-year playing career, which also saw him representing the Pumas, Stormers, Toulon, Kubota Spears, Bulls, and Ulster.

Duane Vermeulen. Photo: Morgan Piek

Last week, it was officially announced that Frans Steyn would be the head coach of the Cheetahs, while Ruan Pienaar would be the backline coach, and Izak van der Westhuizen would return to his more familiar role as forwards coach. Van der Westhuizen stood in as the interim head coach following Hawies Fourie’s departure to join the Boland Cavaliers.

Steyn said that he is not shy to ask for help as he takes up a role that is still very new to him, as well as Pienaar.

Meanwhile, the SA Cup is expected to be a lot tougher this season, and Cheetahs captain Victor Sekekete told OFM Sport that they are gearing up for a big one.

Game time

“When we were told that we’re playing, you could see that the guys were looking forward to it,” said Sekekete.

“Nobody wants to sit around and not play. If that happened, it would have meant three or four months without any games.

“But everyone is looking forward to playing and getting game time. Other teams have been getting warm-up games, and we can see that it’s going to be a tight competition, which is exactly what we’re looking for.

“It’s good for SA Rugby – so we’re looking forward to the SA Cup, and we are definitely going out to play. That’s what we all need. We need better games; we need better intensity. We all know what South Africa can bring to the table, and yes, I believe that it’s going to be a bigger and better SA Cup this season.

“A lot has changed, as you said, but everyone is in it now. Everything is settled – the competition is on, our coaching staff is in place, and I think everyone is buying into the plan of what we want to do. Going into this SA Cup and playing is actually going to work out well because, yes, we have a lot of injuries, but we also have a lot of players coming back. So, it’s going to work out well for us.”

The Cheetahs will open their SA Cup campaign on 8 March against the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington.

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg cg