Slowing down the Cheetahs

As the team name would suggest the Cheetahs thrive on doing things fast and Stormers forwards coach Matt Proudfoot is planning to slow them down.

The Stormers endured a tough battle against the Lions in their first match back from the break with a number of disruptions in their pack.

The build-up was somewhat disjointed with a host of players coming back from international duty and others either injured or suspended, leaving Proudfoot relieved to secure an important win against a fired-up Lions outfit.

"It was a tough week and that's why we were so pleased with the win even if it didn't look so impressive from outside," he told this website.

"The Lions really confronted us at set-piece time and put a lot of pressure on the scrums, but we came out of it and I'm happy with that."

Proudfoot has worked hard with a more settled pack of forwards this week to eliminate the errors before another tough clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

"I was really disappointed with the mauling and we've had to take a good hard look at ourselves and that's not our standard. We didn't confront the physical challenge at sternly as I'd liked and we've addressed that because the Cheetahs are even more physical.

"We were pretty neat and tidy at the line-outs, but our contesting wasn't as good as it has been in the past, so there are still a few boxes we need to tick."

The Cheetahs looked well and truly beaten for most of their match against the Bulls, but then sent a sharp reminder of how dangerous they can be with four tries in the final 20 minutes.

That, in itself, served as another warning to the Stormers and Proudfoot explained: "The Cheetahs use their forwards well as ball-carriers and they need them for the width they play with. The key is controlling the width of the field and the speed of the breakdown.

"If you let the Cheetahs control the speed of the breakdown then you'll be chasing ghosts all day and you could see that at the end of the match against the Bulls."

Proudfoot believes that the Cheetahs are most dangerous when you make a mistake and their counter-attacking abilities make you pay for any errors.

"They're the past masters at the suffocate and strangle and they'll force you into errors and off your plan, so you need to be really accurate or they'll turn the ball over and score 80-metre tries," he said.

"You must be incredibly focused and have a lot of belief in what you're doing otherwise they can break your rhythm and get under your skin to create turnovers and that's where they're incredibly dangerous."

By Timmy Hancox