OPINION: Another slap for Cheetahs, so where to now?

After United Rugby Championship CEO Martin Anayi dealt a devastating blow to the Cheetahs’ hopes of joining a URC B division next season, the Free State franchise have once again been left in limbo, begging the question, where to now?

It has been a tumultuous few years for the Cheetahs since they were booted out of Super Rugby at the end of their 2017 campaign, however, they thought they had found a new home in the Pro14, only for that to last two seasons before they were once again removed.

The Cheetahs enjoyed a relatively successful first campaign in the Pro14, finishing third in their conference and making the quarterfinals where they were beaten by Scarlets, but they struggled a bit in their second season finishing sixth in their conference.

They then didn’t have a chance to make amends as SA Rugby again stepped in and removed them from the competition, paving the way for the Lions, Bulls, Stormers and Sharks to join the now titled URC.

It really has been harsh on the Cheetahs who have a strong squad and have just been trying to find a home, which they had hoped would come in the form of a URC B division.

Earlier this month after a Currie Cup match Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie said:

“There’s a meeting schedule for the end of April, with a lot of role players for a sort of B division of the URC. It looks promising, so we really hope that it will come off and that they will finalise it at the end of the month.”

However, in a media round table on Tuesday afternoon, when quizzed on whether this would happen, URC CEO Anayi said:

“It’s not on the cards (B division). We have a real job on our hands to make the URC as good as it can possibly be and we are getting there. So I think not for the present.”

“We do love the Cheetahs by the way. They are a big part of our history so if we can help them in any way to find a competition that does work for them, you can be rest assured that we would do that.”

Anayi also added that promotion/relegation would not be a possibility as the URC didn’t have an established lower league for teams to drop into, so the current 16 teams are locked in place for the foreseeable future.

This leaves the Cheetahs with just the local Currie Cup, in which they are the only unbeaten side so far, to compete in and still searching for an international competition to join.