Venter to captain Cheetahs
The appointment of the 24-year-old centre, who has 32 Super Rugby caps, was made on social media on Sunday.
Venter takes over the captaincy armband from veteran Francois Uys.
Uys is currently still in Japan, where he is featuring for Verblitz in the Top League play-offs.
The Brave Lupus beat Verblitz 29-17 in the quarterfinals at the weekend, but Uys' team will now drop down into the secondary play-offs.
Venter will play a key role for the Cheetahs in the absence of Springboks Willie le Roux (moved to the Sharks) and Cornal Hendricks (Stormers).
He was called up to former Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer's national training squads ahead of the international season last year.
However, he failed to make the final cut.
The Grey College old boy, who linked up with Cheetahs in 2013 after spending some time at the Bulls, has been a cornerstone on defence.
"It is a big privilege for me to captain the side," Venter said.
"I think it comes with great responsibility, but I'm excited to lead the team."
Venter will have strong leadership support from Springbok lock Lodewyk de Jager, Sevens Bok Johannes Prinsloo, Bok loose forward Teboho Mohoje, hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld BlitzBok Rayno Benjamin.
Coach Franco Smith, will guide the team for his first full season as the team's mentor, after taking over from Naka Drotské for the last two games of the 2015 campaign.
Venter's first task at hand will be lead the Cheetahs and against the new boys on the block – the Jaguars of Argentina in their opening match of the Super Rugby.
The Cheetahs kick-off their campaign on Friday, February 26 at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Congratulations to Francois Venter – Captain of the 2016 Toyota Cheetah side. #ToyotaCheetahs pic.twitter.com/zdYxKNdTxX
— Toyota Cheetahs (@CheetahsRugby) January 10, 2016
