Cheetahs have a Plan B in the bank

Brumbies coach Jake White may feel the Cheetahs are 'conservative' and predictable, but the men from Bloemfontein believe they may have an ace up their collective sleeves.

The Brumbies have been installed as favourites for their preliminary qualifier (quarterfinal) in Canberra on Sunday.

And their coach, White, this week used all his experience in the head games as he turned up the psychological heat.

However, the Cheetahs feel they are a lot less predictable that White would have everybody believe.

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské admitted his team does have a specific game plan and the general consensus is that you don't change from your favoured approach for play-offs.

"The one thing is that we showed this year is that in wet weather or against teams with great defensive systems, where you have to kick more and play a more tactical kicking game, we have the ability to adjust," Drotské told this website in an interview during the build-up to Sunday's big game.

"We do have a plan A and B," he added.

"It is a knock-out game, so things like discipline and defence just becomes so much more important.

"We definitely do have a game plan that we take into the game, but should the need arise for a change or an adjustment, we have the ability to do that."

Drotské said he was confident that his team's set pieces will stand up to the Brumby test.

"The one aspect that helped us to victory against the Blues [a 34-13 triumph in Week 19] was out set pieces," the Cheetahs mentor said, adding: "The scrums and line-outs – we got plenty of quality possession on our feed and managed to put pressure on them with their scrums and line-outs.

"I am positive we should not have any issues with that."

By Jan de Koning