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No breakdown blues for the Cheetahs

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:10

Doubtful starter: Cheetahs flank Heinrich Brüssow

Despite injury concerns over Springboks Heinrich Brüssow and Ashley Johnson, the Cheetahs are confident that they will be ready for challenge that the new interpretation to the breakdown law will present to all teams in the Super 14.

Cheetahs assistant coach Hawies Fourie, speaking to rugby365.com in the build-up to his team's tournament opener against the defending champion Bulls next Friday, February 12, said his charges are getting the new interpretation down to a fine art.

And even with two of their three star loose forwards on the doubtful list, the injury situation in the Cheetahs camp is "looking much better".

Fourie said only one player, outside centre and Sevens Springbok Robert Ebersohn, has definitely been ruled out of their First Round match against the Bulls.

The rest will be given till next Monday before a final call on their fitness is made.

First-choice flyhalf Naas Olivier returned to training this week after missing the pre-season build-up through injury, his back-up, Louis Strydom, will play for the Cheetahs' Vodacom Cup team this week.

"He [Olivier] hasn't taken any contact yet, but we have been able to get him back into the system," Fourie told rugby365.com, adding: "We will make a call on his availability on Monday. At this stage we are very positive about him at this stage."

The other good news is that utility inside back Meyer Bosman is training with the team, while outside back Lionel Mapoe and centre Corné Uys are both ready after injury setbacks.

"Very few of the guys who we would want to select [for the starting XV] are not available," Fourie said, adding that Robert Ebersohn is set to return at the end of February.

Although there might be some concern over the knock that star openside flank Heinrich Brüssow took to his knee in last week's internal trial, Fourie is not going to press any panic buttons.

Bok No.8 Ashley Johnson also has an injury and has been unable to train this week.

"We are also waiting till Monday," he said about his loose forwards, adding: "If they are ready they will start - if they are not available Frans [Viljoen] and Hendro [Scholtz] will play."

The Cheetahs mentor is confident that whoever is selected, will be ready to deal with the dramatic change in approach from referees - who now target the tackler - which has seen the number of penalties per game escalate to an alarming 30 per match.

"The guys are starting to get the new interpretation of the breakdown law down to a fine art," Fourie told rugby365.com.

"We have spent a lot of time on that again this week," he said, adding: "I am more at ease with that aspect [of the game] than last week.

"The interpretation of the breakdown was a bit of a problem for us in the pre-season games, but all the players bought into what we want to achieve at the breakdown. It is no longer a case that we can debate the matter, we simply have to do the right thing and we've have some really good sessions this week."

The only remaining concern is the possibility that some teams may be willing to concede free kicks at scrum time to negate the advantage of teams with powerful scrums.

Fourie said he noticed that there were occasions when the players didn't react instantly to the referee's call - such as when he called touch - and the ref then penalised them with a free kick.

"That could be a concern, because a team with a weaker scrum could ignore the call to touch just to concede a free kick," Fourie said, adding that teams who deliberately do this will know what they are planning and set their defensive lines accordingly.

The team that wins the free kick may be forced to launch a disorganised attack, unless they opt for a scrum again.

"With the scrum being our strength, we hope this [teams willing to give away free kicks at scrum time] doesn't become an issue."

By Jan de Koning

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