Champion Cheetahs set to face Western Force in four-match series

The Bloemfontein franchise is fresh off winning the 2023 Currie Cup for the seventh time in their proud history. In the aftermath of their 25-17 win over the Pumas on Saturday, coach Hawies Fourie revealed that more is in store for the Cheetahs.

As part of their pre-season, they will play the Perth franchise in a four-match series starting at the end of August. "We will play the Western Force twice in Bloemfontein and twice in Perth," Fourie confirmed with rugby365com.

"We are looking forward to that. It will be great to measure ourselves against a Super Rugby team again. I watched the Super Rugby Final and it was high quality."

In terms of other competitions, Fourie added that they are awaiting for invites from the European Challenge Cup competition. This year, they were knocked out by eventual winners Toulon in the Round of 16. 

"I don't know when those two [Challenge Cup] invitees will be revealed, but we are hoping one of those will be the Cheetahs and that we will be competing in the Challenge Cup again in December and January," he continued.

"I hope that we will be there again. We enjoyed playing in the Challenge Cup and it meant a lot to us. We picked up a lot of experience and stood our ground."