Cheetahs keen to make big statement in 2022 Currie Cup

The Cheetahs are eager to make a big statement when they kick off their Currie Cup campaign against the Griquas at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon.

The Cheetahs are the forgotten team in South Africa, having been unceremoniously dumped out of the Pro14 to make way for the other SA sides to join the now United Rugby Championship.

With no set plans in place yet for them to join a big competition, the Currie Cup is their biggest stage and they will be keen to utilise it to the full over the coming season.

“We are not focusing much on the outside noise, we are focusing more on ourselves,” admitted Cheetahs loose forward Aidon Davis.

“But this Currie Cup is very important for us to make a statement and we want to win the cup and bring it back to Bloemfontein.

“We have been together as a group for a while now. So I think we have a great chance of winning the cup and we are just looking forward to getting back out on the field.”

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The Cheetahs have had a strong build-up to the competition and will be at full strength when they open their account this weekend.

Despite beating the Griquas in a warm up match over the past weekend, the Cheetahs know it will be a completely different game on Saturday.

“We have had a really good pre-season, the Toyota Challenge Cup helped us a lot with the five games we played in November,” said Davis.

“Our warm up match against Griquas last weekend has also given us a lot of confidence going into the competition so we are fit and ready.

“But we know it will definitely be a different game. Warm up games are always a bit scrappy with a lot of penalties and it being very stop start. So I think Griquas will come out firing this weekend.

“Especially with it being a massive derby, Free State and Griquas is always a huge battle, so it is going to be a cracking game.”

The action kicks off at 2:30pm on Saturday afternoon.