Ulster Rugby v Cheetahs

THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO KNOW… ABOUT THE CHEETAHS!

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Legendary flanker Juan Smith, ‘capped’ 70 times by the Springboks, skippered the Cheetahs between 2006 and 2011, and returned from a career-threatening injury to become a key member of Toulon’s European Cup-winning sides in 2014 and 2015. For its Guinness PRO14 debut the Cheetahs travelled 9,000 miles to Kingspan Stadium and stay in Ireland to play Munster next weekend before their trip home. Zebre will provide the opposition for the Cheetahs’ first home game in the PRO14 on the third weekend this month with Leinster arriving a week later.

The Cheetahs’ home ground for the expanded Guinness PRO14 is the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein and is 4,577 feet above sea level! The capacity of the stadium – formerly the Free State Stadium - was increased to 48,000 to accommodate the crowds at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Bloemfontein is one of three national capitals of South Africa – the others being Pretoria and Cape Town – and is the judicial centre of the nation. The PRO14 Cheetahs side is one element of a sophisticated Free State Cheetahs operation and drawn from the Western half of the Province. The Free State Cheetahs compete successfully in the domestic Currie Cup series and will defend the title in 2017. The Cheetahs’ last game in Super Rugby was a 21-20 win over the other PRO14 newcomers – the Southern Kings – in Port Elizabeth in July. Tonight’s visitors played in Super Rugby for the first time in 2006, ‘mixing it’ with the best club sides in the southern hemisphere. Rassie Erasmus, currently in charge at Munster and newly- appointed Director of Rugby with the South African national side, coached the Cheetahs in its Super Rugby debut season of 2006.

TOYOTA CHEETAHS 2017/18

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