Yank to make Cheetahs debut
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Cheetahs will be facing the Lions in the third round of their Super Rugby Unlocked campaign on Saturday at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Cheetahs head coach Hawies Fourie made changes due to the knee injury of veteran Ruan Pienaar.
Junior Pokomela will be the captain of the team, while Tian Meyer will replace Pienaar at scrumhalf.
Ruben de Haas, the Cheetahs American international scrumhalf will be making his debut in the Super Rugby Unlocked competition.
De Haas represented the USA team at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
The Cheetahs battled their way to a close-fought 19-17 win over the Bulls in their clash in Bloemfontein on Friday evening, as a result of their second successive win the Cheetahs are sitting on top of the log with nine points from two wins.
The players not eligible for team selection due to injury are Wilmar Arnoldi (cheek bone), Reniel Hugo (knee), Aranos Coetzee (ankle), Rhyno Smith (quad), Duncan Saal (hamstring), Dries Swanepoel (calf) and Ruan Pienaar (knee).
Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Malcolm Jaer, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Junior Pokomela (captain), 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Charles Marais
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Erich de Jager, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 Chris Massyn, 22 Ruben de Haas, 23 William Small-Smith
Date: Saturday, October 24
Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg.
Kick-off: 16.30 (14.30 GMT)
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron and Colby Griffon
TMO: Willie Vos
