Frans Steyn's challenge to Cheetahs ahead of Currie Cup
SPOTLIGHT: Cheetahs Director of Rugby Frans Steyn revealed what he would like to get out of playing in the Toyota Challenge ahead of the Currie Cup season.
The Cheetahs, as with many ‘smaller unions’, lose top-quality players to the bigger franchises and constantly have to rebuild their squad depth.
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Departures earlier this season saw the likes of Cameron Dawson (Sharks) and Vernon Paulo (Stormers), but the Free State side managed to retain hooker Marco Janse van Rensburg, prop Matome Manyama and flanker Sisonke Vumazonke.
They also made a marquee signing in double World Champion Faf de Klerk, who is currently in camp with the Springboks ahead of their season opener against the Barbarians on June 20.
Steyn said his goal for the Cheetahs is to have ample player depth and believes that the current crop of players are good enough, but also challenged them to show their mettle during this Toyota Challenge series ahead of the 2026 Currie Cup campaign.
“We gave several guys opportunities over the last year and a half,” Steyn told Rugby365.
“For me, these guys need to step up now and prove their worth to the squad and the rest of the players and to us [as coaches] as well.
“Look, I’m confident that they’re good enough, but I want to get to a position where we can rotate [players] in and out with ease and rest players without compromising on quality.
“Hopefully, they can step up and have a good game.”
The Cheetahs will face Romania ‘A’ in the second round of the Cheetahs Challenge on Wednesday, June 10, before the series concludes on Saturday, when they’ll take on the Georgian and fellow Challenge Cup side Black Lion.
Steyn’s side kicked off their campaign with a 54-24 victory over Lusitanos.
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Steyn said he made several changes for the clash against Romania ‘A’ to spread the workload and manage player minutes with a tough Currie Cup campaign lying ahead.
“The selection is not about resting players for the final match against Black Lion,” said Steyn.
“We want to manage the player’s workload heading into a tough Currie Cup campaign.
“In saying that, we need to give game time to other players and in the background, we’re working on other players’ conditioning and trying to manage the squad.
“One also want to avoid too many injuries during this series ahead of the Currie Cup.”
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