Cheetahs dread dour kick-fest
They are dreading it, but the Cheetahs are gearing up to engage the Brumbies in a kick-fest in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Brumbies Director of Rugby Laurie Fisher this week made no secret of the fact that his team will continue to employ their 'pragmatic' kicking game, even against the leaky Cheetahs defence – which has already coughed up a Super Rugby tournament high 43 tries in just 12 games.
Not even widespread criticism of last week's dour 16-9 win over the Sharks, which produced a record 84 kicks between the two sides, can change his mind.
"We've built this team over the past three years to be pragmatic," Fisher told the Sydney Morning Herald this week.
"Our game is to compete for everything and make it tough, that's what rugby is.
"It's not touch footy. We've embraced that [kicking] style and hopefully, off the back of being tough and uncompromising, we can score tries off that."
Cheetahs assistant coach Hawies Fourie, speaking to rugby365 in the build-up to Saturday's encounter at the Free State Stadium, admitted they would have to pack away their expansive game this week if they want to have any hope of an upset.
"They are Australia's form team and last week beat the Sharks convincingly, so it will be a tough game," Fourie said – adding that the Brumbies' defence is just as good as the Western Force (which beat the Cheetahs last week).
However, it is the Brumbies dreaded kick-'n-chase game that will pose the biggest threat to the Cheetahs.
The Brumbies and Sharks were equally guilty of kicking the fun out of watching the game – with each having launched 42 aerial bombs in Canberra, for an average of a kick per minute in a game where stoppages took up at least another 15 minutes.
"We know were going to be involved in a kicking duel and they will try and force you, with their kicks, to counter from the wrong situations," the Cheetahs' departing backline coach told rugby365.
"They put you under pressure with their defence, from those kicks and they also pile pressure on at the breakdown.
"It means the decision-making of our back three will be vital – they will need to know when to run and when to kick to place the pressure on them [the Brumbies].
"We will most likely kick a bit more than what we are used to, because we don't want to be pinned inside our own half.
"We don't want to play into their hands with their kicking game."
Fourie said they are confident that Willie le Roux, the smallest of the back three, will be able to cope with the aerial assault the Cheetahs will face.
Fullback Hennie Daniller and right wing Cornal Hendricks are taller in stature and naturally better suited to a ball-in-the-air approach.
"He [Willie le Roux] plays fullback for the Springboks, he knows what to do and when to do it," the Cheetahs mentor said.
"His natural instinct may be to attack, but we know how their kicking game works and we have a plan for that.
"He is a quality player and we are confident that he has the ability to know what to do and make the right calls at the right time."
By Jan de Koning
