Cheetahs 'not mere spectators' despite defeat

REACTION: Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie revealed his team is not in the Challenge Cup to be spectators following their defeat to Scarlets on Saturday.

The Cheetahs’ boss revealed that the Bloemfontein side’s aim is to go through to the final 16.

However, the coach knows that in order to do this, the Cheetahs face the tough task of securing wins in their next two matches – which includes another encounter with the Scarlets at home in Llanelli.

Fourie also added the team had to rectify their mistakes before heading to Llanelli.

“We are not in the competition to watch rugby and merely compete, we want to go through to the final 16,” Fourie told reporters after the match.

“But in order for us to do that, we have no choice but to win our next two games, which include another encounter with the Scarlets.

“We were lucky that the weather played along, but it will be a different story in Llanelli.

“We have to fix the mistakes we made, especially in the first half. At times I thought we did well, but we made too many mistakes. The Scarlets have an excellent kicking game and they put our backs under a lot of pressure. There is a lot we can learn from Saturday’s game.

“We played into their hands and were too slow at the breakdown. I also think the intercept try did not help us. But the team showed character to claw their way back into the game by scoring three tries and claiming a bonus point.”

#REPORT: @CheetahsRugby go down to @scarlets_rugby in Parma #rugby #news #sports @ChallengeCup_ https://t.co/PjHSHgBArK

— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) December 17, 2022

Fourie was clearly not happy with the loss and felt his side left things too late but he questioned the reset of the scrum in front of the Scarlets goal line.

“We pushed them back and Jeandre [Rudolph] would have scored, but the referee called a reset.

“I thought that was a strange call.”

The coach complimented his back three of Tapiwe Mafura, Dan Kapepula and Munier Hartzenberg and said they could feel happy with their performance.

The Cheetahs will arrive back in Bloemfontein on Monday after which they will take a week off before they get together on  December 29 to start their preparations for the next round of matches.

They plan to travel to Wales on January 8 for the clash with the Scarlets in Llanelli.