Headaches up front for Cheetahs
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Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske admits that the lack of tight five depth is a concern heading into the Super Rugby season.
The Bloemfontein side have lost the services of Springbok front row forwards Adriaan Strauss and Trevor Nyakane who have both moved to the Bulls, which has left them looking decidedly thin on options up front.
Drotske gave some of the fringe players a chance to make a case for selection against the Stormers at Newlands on Friday, but they battled to assert themselves on the Stormers pack until Springboks Coenie Oosthuizen and Lodewyk de Jager took to the pitch in the second half.
The Cheetahs coach said that whilst he is happy with the depth in the backline and loose forwards, the lack of quality tight five options remains a concern.
"If we have a lot of injuries we don't have the depth of the bigger unions.
"In the backline and loose forwards I think we are fine, but if we get injuries in the tight five we probably will be in trouble," he said.
Drotske noted the difference that players like Oosthuizen and De Jager made when they came on, and added that his side allowed the Stormers too much momentum in the first half.
"I thought we played well in the second half and guys like Lood de Jager and Coenie Oosthuizen made a huge difference.
"In the first half I thought we gave them too much momentum, our defence wasn't good and we put ourselves under pressure with the penalty count, there was a lot of ill-discipline especially at breakdown time, so we need to sort that out.
"At one stage the penalty count was seven to two, and you put a lot of pressure on yourself so we need to sort that out.
"The second half was good and I thought we made a lot of positive hits, especially with Coenie and Lood in the forwards. Once you start giving teams momentum it is tough to defend on second and third phase," he explained.
The Cheetahs have one final warm-up game against the Griffons on Wednesday, and Drotske said that he will play his strongest available team whilst giving those with minor niggles like Willie le Roux the chance to recover completely before their first game of the season against the Sharks in Durban.
"I think there will be some little niggles, like with Willie [Le Roux] his ankle is a little bit sore but it should be fine.
"We have another friendly against the Griffons on Wednesday and we probably won't play a few guys but everybody will be fine when we start," he said.
By Michael de Vries
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