Toyota Cheetahs head coach Hawies Fourie believes his team should be aiming for a play-off spot in the PRO14 this season, but knows their away form must change to get there.
The Cheetahs are in Conference A this year along with the likes of Leinster, Ulster and Glasgow Warriors, but opened their account well with three home wins on the bounce only to lose their three away games that followed.
The results have left them third in the table after the opening six rounds, and Fourie thinks that they should be competing in that area for the remainder of the season.
“We are competing against three really strong teams for the three play-off places in our conference. Leinster are way out in front at the moment, but ourselves, Ulster and Glasgow Warriors are all very close together on the log. Only three of the four teams will go through. In the first season the Cheetahs played in the PRO 14 they won just one game away and lost just one at home and that was enough. But with those teams competing with us for places that probably won’t be enough this time. The way we see it we need to win four of five games away from home. And then we can’t afford to lose more than one or two at home,” he said.
The South African-based side reached the play-offs during their first season in the competition due to their incredible home form, which saw them only lose one game on home soil throughout the whole season.
However, as Fourie has stated that isn’t enough to get to the top anymore and he is hoping that his team can kick-start their winning run on the road when they take on the Ospreys this weekend.
“This is definitely a good opportunity for us and we have noted that the Ospreys haven’t had a great season so far. But we know we still have to play well against them, and they may be better than their record suggests. Even though they lost, they played well against Munster (in the Champions Cup). They are a very good scrummaging team and their mauls are also really good. They are also a very disciplined team. They don’t concede many penalties, just eight a game, so you don’t get much opportunity to kick to touch to set up the lineout. You only get about 10 lineouts a game against them, and of course our lineout attack is one of our main weapons. We will have to play a lot from turn-overs and poor kicks,” he added.
As mentioned above the Cheetahs are currently in third-place in Conference A, three-points off second-placed Ulster and two-points ahead of fourth-placed Glasgow.
The Ospreys have had their struggles so far this season, but will hope, like most sides, that the return of some of their international stars will see them pick up points sooner rather than later. The Cheetahs will be aware that when stars return their opponents will become stronger, but Fourie and his team have a goal and if they can improve their performances away from home, who would put it past them reaching their target.
