The Cheetahs have crashed out of the Challenge Cup this season, having featured in the playoffs in all their previous seasons of the competition.
Former two-time World Cup winner and the current head of rugby at the Cheetahs, Frans Steyn, is set to take charge of the team as head coach for this year’s Currie Cup competition.
And if reports in weekend publication Rapport are correct, Steyn, who won World Cups in 2007 and 2019, will be assisted by two other former national players, scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar and Tiaan Liebenberg.
The changes in the coaching team come after former Cheetahs player Izak van der Westhuizen failed to lead the team to the playoffs of the Challenge Cup competition, the first time in three years that the Cheetahs haven’t advanced to the knockouts.
In the Challenge Cup, the Cheetahs drew 20-all with Perpignan, lost 26-10 to Cardiff Rugby, beat Zebre 22-18 and lost to 68-21 to Lyon.
The decision to shake up the coaching team also comes as former Cheetahs player and coach Rory Duncan is set to take over as new chief executive officer from Bren van Reenen, who left his position at the end of last year.
New coaches
Steyn, who played 78 Tests, has filled the role of director of rugby over the last year, while Pienaar opted to hang up his boots at the end of last season, having played for the Cheetahs for a few years after his stints in Ireland and France. Before that he was an integral member of the Sharks team. He played 88 Tests for the Boks.
Liebenberg played five Tests for the Boks, and also featured for the Cheetahs, Griquas, Western Province and the Stormers.
Van der Westhuizen has filled the coaching role following Hawies Fourie’s move to the Boland two years ago. It is not yet known what roles, if any, Van der Westhuizen and his current co-coaches at the Cheetahs, Albert Keuris and Charl Strydom, they will have in the new coaching structure.
The new-look format of the Currie Cup, which will be contested by all 14 provincial unions in South Africa, will run from July to September.
The new window is to avoid any clashes with European-based competitions.
