‘New franchise no threat to Cheetahs’
12 Mar 2009
Harold Verster has quashed rumours that the new Eastern Cape franchise will replace the Cheetahs or Lions.
Australian Rugby Union chief John O’Neill has been vocal in his support for the new Port Elizabeth-based franchise which will be launched when a Coastal XV plays the British & Irish Lions in June. O’Neill told Australian reporters the Eastern Cape team should replace one of the Lions or Cheetahs given the two highveld franchises’ poor record in Super Rugby. He also suggested the two teams rejoin to revive the Cats allowing Australia to claim the new franchise in an expanded Super 15.
Verster, the Cheetahs president, has slammed suggestions that his team no longer deserve a place in the competition. Speaking to keo.co.za, he said there’s no chance the Cheetahs will be replaced by the Eastern Cape franchise and that the Cheetahs should remain a part of the Super Rugby tournament as an independent entity.
“The Eastern Cape is not a threat,” Verster told this website. “I have been in plenty of talks with SA Rugby and the new franchise will not replace us in the current competition or in an extended Super Rugby tournament. If that happened it would kill rugby in this part of the world.
“There are a number of other options for them [the Eastern Cape] to consider [should they not win the right to play in the tournament], but they are not a serious threat to us.”
The Cheetahs finished 10th in 2006, 11th in 2007 and 13th in 2008. Having lost their first four matches in 2009, they are rooted to the bottom of the table. Verster remains optimistic, but admits it will be tough to better the finishes of previous seasons.
“It’s always tough to play away from home, and you see that only in recent years teams like the Sharks and Bulls have begun to get it right. We obviously can’t compete financially with these teams and lost 18 players at the end of last season.
“A couple of years ago we lost Rassie Erasmus and [fitness coach] Jacques Nienaber to the Stormers, and we recently lost our our team doctor Org Strauss to the Bulls. That is also down to financial constraints.
“We know that we have to pick things up on the field, as the red light is blinking. I know it’s not right to set a goal of a top eight finish at the beginning of the season, as that suggests you don’t want to win, but we have to be realistic.”
Verster’s gripe regarding the player-drain is a perennial one, but the real question here is whether the Cheetahs will ever be able to retain their top players or compete for a Super Rugby play-off spot.
“We have some wonderful juniors coming through – guys like Robert Ebersohn is one for the future. All the top senior guys are contracted for the next two years, as is the coaching staff,” explained Verster.
“The Super 14 is a tough competition but we’re confident that if we maintain the core of our team we are only going to get stronger. And seeing the potential in the junior ranks, we won’t want for talent.”
The Cheetahs face the Blues on Friday and the Highlanders next week. Should they lose both fixtures it will be the fourth straight year they’ve failed to win abroad.
“It is a concern, and while we have been a bit unlucky, there have been some disappointing performances,” said Verster. “That Reds match was especially bad and we dropped two balls over the tryline when we played the Force.
“We have a number of home games coming up, but we have to lift the standard.”
By Jon Cardinelli
30 Comments
12 Mar 2009, 17:26 pm
So why is’nt Ebersohn playing?
12 Mar 2009, 17:26 pm
threatened species dragons!
12 Mar 2009, 17:27 pm
OOps’s! I meant Dragons.
Why not blood the youngsters like the OZ do, they sure cant do worse.
12 Mar 2009, 17:29 pm
Ebersohn should be with the CHeetahs and Kabamaba should be with the 7′s seeing as he’s hardly being used at all.
12 Mar 2009, 18:17 pm
Should read “Cheetahs no threat to new franchise”
12 Mar 2009, 19:09 pm
Ebersohn was involved in the WC 7′s – Boks were ****.
Cheetahs / Lions should either rejoin or one must go – more than enough opportunities. Cheetahs lose players, so do everybody, just like the provinces that would have make up the EC franchise. Politely forgets EC players that he has in his team.
12 Mar 2009, 19:35 pm
# 6. KEVIN W
“Politely forgets EC players that he has in his team”.
Exactly, that is what is cuasing their problems – too many EC players in their team!!!
If the Cheetahs are taken out of the competition the springboks and S14 will all suffer. Now tell me; Can you think of any other franchise that have produced more springboks and quality s14 players than the Cheetahs? . Do yourself a favour and count the number of Cheetah-based players in the springbok team and other S14 franchises. Now compare these figures with any other franchise’s figures. You would soon realise which province produces the most quality players in South Africa i.e. Grey College and the Cheetahs. What makes these findings evebn more remarkable is the very mere fact that their player population is not 20% compared to the Bulls, Lions, Stormers, etc.
Your criticism on Mr Verster is quite harsch and uncalled for – and this coming from a Sharks supporter makes it even worse.
12 Mar 2009, 19:50 pm
The useless EC franchise won’t be a threat to anyone. They’ll be a bonus points factory for all comers.
12 Mar 2009, 20:26 pm
The Cheetahs or the Cheekies … tough choice…
It seems to me that if the Cheetahs are always struggling financially there must be question marks against their medium and long term viability.
12 Mar 2009, 22:34 pm
Harold Verster is the Cheetahs biggest liabality
13 Mar 2009, 00:28 am
Ok this O’Neill is brighter than I thought
He is deflecting the SANZAR issues and causing SA to argue internally
He wants
* The extra Aus team
* the longer S15 running into August
* thereby messing with our Currie Cup
He doesn’t give a toss whether its the Cheetahs, Lions or Spears that is SAs 5th franchise
And we rise to the bait.
Lets keep to the issue at hand. S15 format and timing
13 Mar 2009, 01:41 am
Where has all the CC money gone over the years…
Until transfer fees are brought in the Cheetahs will continue to lose money as they develop youngsters only to move on…
Doubt these guys could run a piss-up in a Brewery though… even the Potato farmers at Wildeklawer run Griqua’s better…
Coastal XV (if is doesn’t have Sharks in it) going to get 100 pts handed to them…
13 Mar 2009, 01:43 am
And you dropped balls over the tryline when playing the Hurricanes as well.
The general Cheetahs handling and passing skills have been F@#$%ing AWFUL!
In teh Canes game, I did not see one move happen without a pass that was wobbly, looping, or just plain inaccurate and behind the receiver. Your passing KILLSS your momentum. And I am referring to backs and forwards alike (in fact some of teh backs passes were the worst of the lot!).
For a bunch of professional players that is inexcusable. Hell, for a bunch of barefoot laaities playing in the frost before school this is inexcusable! for the Cheetahs is is exraordinarily poor!
Did you guys not ever develop skilsl as kids? FFS man! SIES!!
At the least a bad pass breaks the momentum, slows the move, and closes the gaps. At worst, the bad passes are snapped up and countered on! So it acts as a 14 point turnaround when a bad pass goes to ground!
Fix those passes and you will improve by 20 points.
13 Mar 2009, 01:43 am
#11 Biscuit:
Of course not… he’s been hired to turn Australian rugby around… spectator wise…
He single-handedly turned Australian Soccer around in just a few seasons… developing the A league which now attracts quadruple the amount of fans that it used to…
13 Mar 2009, 02:45 am
Walk-in spectators only pay for the petty-cash beer money.
The REAL money comes from TV audiences, sponsorships etc. The exact opposite of the walk-in crowds.
13 Mar 2009, 03:03 am
#8 TheTackler: actually they’ll probably get all kinds of money and support pumped into them
13 Mar 2009, 03:23 am
#15 TheTackler:
With the ‘A league’ O’Neill created… they go hand in hand… it took him only a few months to convince Foxsports to buy in… and it is still going from strength to strength…
In Aus they hire proven business fundi’s… in RSA… it’s all skin colour….
13 Mar 2009, 07:20 am
I have said it before, and i will say it again – the player drain is not the real reason the team is sucking. The real reason is poor management of cash up stairs, and poor coaching on the field.
Coaching issues:
If a team cannot handle a rugby ball, that has nothing to do with a player drain, but rather poor coaching. Naka has no coaching rep, and neither does Pine Pienaar (U21) and neither does Hawies. Helgard is not a manager’s a… The Cheetahs never won a single thing under Peet Kleynhans, and the first year rassie became coach we won the CC….
Selection issues:
How can a Springbok like Kabamba Floors sit ON THE BENCH of the Vodacom Cup side like he did two weeks ago?? How can the Cheetahs settle for a no 8 like Frans Viljoen over Ashley Johnson and Jonathan Mokoena. Two very exciting no 8′s. Naka is a fking racist.
Money Issues:
We win the CC three years in a row. We have a sponsorship deal with Supersport. We stop paying 17 top class players a year becuase they leave the province. Dont tell me you pay Marius Joubert and JW Jonker the same amount… Money is going missing in the union. What happened to the money we used to pay CJ, Ollie, Corniel, Noel, Marius Joubert, Phillip Burger, Willem de Waal, Rory Duncan, Barend Pieterse, Duanne Vermeulen, Michael Claasens, Rassie Erasmus etc etc. Dont tell me the current crop of shi.. absorbs that salary bill?
Backward Mindset:
Cheetahs consider a season a success of they make the CC semis. The real reason Rassie left is cause Harold laughed at him when he said he wants the Union to seriously start working to winning the S14.
The S14 is a small “by-competition” like the Vodacom Cup. Cheetahs only interested in doing well in S14.
If you have low standards like this – the real class will always leave.
13 Mar 2009, 07:21 am
Oh, and after my gripe above – I can garuantee you that the current Cheetahs side will thump whomever plays for the Spears at the moment.
13 Mar 2009, 07:25 am
#18 Cheetha Champs:
Btw, what happened to Rory Duncan?
He just disappeared from the scene in a hurry, is he playing abroad as well now, do you know?
13 Mar 2009, 07:48 am
So who are the 18 players they lost last year that harold is refering to? I count:
1. CJ
2. Corniel
3. Noel
4. Rory Duncan
5. Barend Pieterse
6. Jannie Dup (maybe 2007)
7. Eberson – since he is not available for the s14
Regarding the money they should have saved during the fat years:
I doubt whether it make that much difference to the finances if you have a great CC. The fact is that the economy in Bloem is limited and there are not big companies that are willing to pay them X million annually.
13 Mar 2009, 08:10 am
#20 Pietman: Rory has gone to Japan. Never a great lock, but the players liked him, and they all played for him.
13 Mar 2009, 08:15 am
#22 Cheetha Champs:
He will be a great lock in Japan, no worries, hehehehe!
But they have some big okes in Japan as well now, I watch them on tv over here sometimes, many boys from the Pacifics playing in Japan now, big ones.
13 Mar 2009, 08:28 am
#23 Pietman: Hahahahaha. I guess that is why he went there. He was never tall enough to be a good SA lock.
Heard them discuss Japan’s inclusion in the Super 14 on Reunion this morning. With their money, it could be interesting.
13 Mar 2009, 08:30 am
#18 Cheetha Champs:
“How can a Springbok like Kabamba Floors sit ON THE BENCH of the Vodacom Cup side like he did two weeks ago?? How can the Cheetahs settle for a no 8 like Frans Viljoen over Ashley Johnson and Jonathan Mokoena. Two very exciting no 8’s. Naka is a fking racist.”
My thoughts exactly.
13 Mar 2009, 11:36 am
#18 Cheetha Champs: Naka is not racist, he simple doesn’t know how to trust something foreign to his background, he takes safety first even if he knows its a limited option.
13 Mar 2009, 12:15 pm
“The Eastern Cape is not a threat.”
Looking at how they played this morning, Harold might not be so sure anymore.
13 Mar 2009, 15:01 pm
#7 AP: Please explain Cheetah Based??? They went to boarding school at Grey Bloem?
The Sharks have been consistently the best side for the last few years from a SA perspective. Are you saying EC players like Kankowski, Kockott, Daniel, Odwa are just insignificant compared to Ruan, Frans Steyn and Bismarck in the Sharks outfit. Cheetahs are not the only area to get robbed.
Floors and Fortuin were in Spears territory when they moved to the Cheetahs. As was Ashley Johnson, Wayne van Heerden, Fabian Juries … guess that is FS transformation!!! Rory Duncan was great for the Cheetahs and they lost him. He was a Grey boy, a PE grey boy!
13 Mar 2009, 21:21 pm
#27 Dumb Supporter:
You must excuse Oom Harold. He is an old timer who has lost touch with reality and has no idea what is going on. The sooner they get rid of him and his ilk the better for Free State and SA rugby.
He reminds me of something Luke is alleged to have said.
14 Mar 2009, 18:09 pm
Geez, I wish I could say what I think of Herold Verster! But this is a family site!
This guy is KILLING the Freestate union with his ‘briliant’ managment skills. I woder how he can say that 3 CC wins later there is no cash in the union? Yes there is no cash because you are sipping it up for your own comfort! He is in an absolute comfort zone, and that is bad! He has got all his bodies in the club system and now one wants to challenge him! That is bad for rugby!
They said NO to Rassie when he asked for R700K a year instead of R500K, wonder what he gets paid?
He say no to clubs outside Bloem that can Boost the club system in Bloem, beacause then there is a vote against him!
Ja Ja Herold our CC stats is good, our VC stats is good, BUT THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR THE CRAB WE HAVE TO WATCH IN THE SUPER14 SEASON!
Dont worry by the end of next year he can say: “Maar ons het nie geld nie” when Vodacom decides not to sponsor the union any more.
I think ALL Cheetah Supporters must boikot the whole season, no match attendance untill Herold Verster is gone! Yes we will loose the good players we have no, at least we will have a clean house and thing can start happening! I hope Barry Wolmerans will get a chance!
The Cheetahs will always have the unbelievable talent coming out of Grey and other schools. So then the teams can be prep in a couple of years to be top 4 finishers in the Super 14, we all know that is possible!
O yes, NAKA must hit the road with the whole team managers! Get Dawie Thern for the forwars, MJ Smith for the backs and get a Head Coach that have some ranks behind him, Phil Pretorius, Heyneke Meyer, ect….
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