Cheetahs ring changes for Zebre

Cape Town - The Cheetahs will be making history by playing against Zebre in their first PRO14 home game on Saturday and tickets to Toyota Stadium are free. 

Coach Rory Duncan, meanwhile, has made a couple of changes from the side that lost to Munster last weekend.  

Sergeal Peterson moves to fullback, replacing Clayton Blommetjies, while Luther Obi will be starting on the right wing. 

Newcomer Ernest Stapelberg will replace Robbie Petzer on flyhalf, becoming the third No 10 in as many games for Duncan. 

In the front row props Ox Nche and Tom Botha move to the starting line-up with Charles Marais and Johan Coetzee providing cover on the bench. 

Hookers Torsten van Jaarsveld and to Jacques du Toit will be switching places, with Van Jaarsveld in the starting line-up.

Justin Basson will be replacing Rynier Bernardo and Junior Pokomela will be replacing the injured Niell Jordaan.

Nico Lee and Chris Dry are new to the bench. Lee will be making his return after a long term injury he sustained in Super Rugby against the Crusaders on April 29. 

Obi (right wing), Stapelberg (flyhalf) and Junior Pokomela (No 8), will be making their PRO14 debuts. 

"We have a brand of rugby that we want to play and probably haven’t seen much of in the first two games. We want to improve on that in terms of maintaining continuity by challenging teams," said offence coach, Dave Williams.  

*Although the tickets are free, you still need a physical ticket to gain access to the stadium. Tickets are limited to 10 per person. Tickets can now be collected from one of the designated collection points: Ticket office, Toyota Stadium; online www.fscheetahs.co.za or Toyota Dealerships across the Free State.

Cheetahs

15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Luther Obi, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Ernst Stapelberg, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche

16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Johan Coetzee, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Chris Dry, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Nico Lee, 23 Cecil Afrika