Cheetahs to rumble on, Pumas to bounce back in Currie Cup

The Cheetahs juggernaut will be looking to rumble on, while the Pumas will be eager to bounce back from a first loss of the season in their Currie Cup clashes over the weekend.

The Cheetahs take on Western Province at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3pm) and will be looking to build on a big win over the Lions over the past weekend.

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The Cheetahs suffered their only loss of the Currie Cup a few weeks ago when their B team were beaten by the Pumas while their A side was on Challenge Cup duty, but with their main team back they hammered the Lions 52-15 in Johannesburg.

They will now be targeting another away win against Western Province, who are in decent form themselves having moved up to third on the Currie Cup table, and Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie knows the danger they pose.

“Western Province has an exciting backline with a lot of really skilful players with good skillsets. So we expect a tough challenge on the weekend,” said Fourie.

“I think these guys will be wanting to impress Dobbo and get into the URC team. So it is a good mix in their Curie Cup team, with the same coaches and style of playing the game.

“They will be dangerous from turnovers and on the counterattack and we will have to be sharp on defence and well organised on attack.”

Big response

The Pumas will be looking to respond after being beaten by the Sharks last weekend when they face the Griffons in Welkom on Sunday (kick-off 2pm).

The Griffons picked up a historic win over the Bulls a few weeks ago, but were then beaten by Western Province last weekend, so they will be keen to push the defending champs, but the visitors should have too much firepower in the end.

The other match sees the Lions taking on the Griquas in their middle table clash at Ellis Park on Sunday (kick-off 4:05pm).

The fifth placed Lions and sixth placed Pumas have both managed two wins and three losses so far this season, so both teams will be going all out for the win to make a move up the table.