Zeena Isaacs
9 January 2009
Johannesburg — DESPITE the odds of success in the Super 14 being stacked heavily against the Cheetahs, captain and flank Juan Smith was optimistic yesterday about his team's chances of improving drastically on their disappointing 13th-place finish in the series last season.
Smith, who is being handled with kid gloves after suffering concussion in the Springbok Test against Scotland on the year-end tour in November, said although the franchise lacked the depth their South African counterparts boasted, they had quality back-up players in almost all positions this season.
In the past three competitions, the Cheetahs have found themselves in deep trouble when star players suffered injuries, as young and inexperienced players had been forced to plug the gaps.
Unlike the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers, budgetary constraints have forced the Cheetahs to develop young stars rather than spend huge sums on buying top players -- the lack of which has counted heavily against the team in the past.
These challenges, however, have failed to dampen Smith's spirits ahead of the series.
"We have bought a few new backline players this season like Corné Uys (former Stormers centre) and Piet van Zyl (former Boland Cavaliers centre), so we have a bit more depth," said Smith, who hopes to be fit for the warm-up game against the Sharks in Dubai on January 24.
"We now have two or three players who can fill in almost all positions. But apart from that I am really impressed with the shape the guys are in after their break and the spirit among the players. They can't wait for the series ."
Despite the team winning only one of their 13 games last season, Smith said it was not necessary to make drastic changes to their game plan. "The main problem is that we do not have the depth in top players the other franchises have," he said.
"But last season we lost out on about nine bonus points, which would have put us in a better position. It is little things that we have to correct at this stage, like playing for the full 80 minutes rather than playing for 70 minutes, which we did last season."
Smith, however, admits that the team faces a huge challenge in the series, especially since most of the opposition teams have established sides featuring a few veterans.
"A lot of the players are young and for many of them it will be their first overseas tour," said Smith. "As things stand we are the only South African franchise that has not won a game on the overseas leg. So it will be a challenge but we are looking forward to it."
The Cheetahs start their campaign on February 13 against the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
All the Super 14 coaches have been granted an additional two weeks to finalise their squads. The deadline for coaches to submit their 30-man squads to Sanzar -- the governing body of the Super 14 and Tri-Nations -- was mid- January. With Sapa
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