The Cheetahs (known for sponsorship reasons as the

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Cheetahs), is a South African professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

team that played

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

between 2006 and 2017, before joining the Pro14 (Now

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

) competition prior to the 2017–18 season. They are based at the Free State Stadium in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape ...

. They have been included with the Lions (Of the URC) to compete in the

2022-23 EPCR Challenge Cup The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

. The franchise area encompasses the western half of the Free State province, the same as that of provincial

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

side the . Between 2006 and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, the from the eastern half of the Free State province and from the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

province were Cheetahs franchise partners, but this ended prior to the

2016 Super Rugby season The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Ar ...

. The Cheetahs was one of the two new franchises that entered the expanded Super 14 competition in 2006, the other being Australia's

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

. The Central Union was awarded the fifth South African franchise over the SEC franchise in April 2005. In its first season the Cheetahs did surprisingly well, finishing tenth in the final standings, out of 14 sides. Prior to being accepted into the

2006 Super 14 The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, ...

season, the Cheetahs were represented as a part of the

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

. In addition, before the

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

entered regionalised franchises into the competition, the

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (formerly the Orange Free State), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, for sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by th ...

side competed in the 1997 Super 12 season.

Strip

The primary strip for the

Cheetahs is an orange jersey with a white collar and white trim. Black shorts with orange socks and white trim. The colours are representative of the Free State Currie Cup side; orange and white (Free State Cheetahs) The alternative jersey is the same design, though it is a white jersey with an orange collar and orange trim. Black shorts with orange socks and white trim.

History

Prior to South Africa entering franchises into the then Super 12, the domestic Currie Cup sides competed instead. The Free State Cheetahs, one of the sides that make up the current Central Cheetahs, competed in one Super 12 season in 1997. The Free State played 11 matches, winning 5 and losing 6. They placed 7th on the end of season standings. Proposals by the Central Union franchise and the SEC (Southern and Eastern Cape) franchise were studied for the allocation of a fifth

team licence. The Central Union emphasized points to the SARU such as that the region is second only to the Western Province in terms of producing players for the national side. The Central Union noted that they have a strong and stable fanbase that would be able to meet financial and administrative responsibilities and demands of a Super 14 rugby side. In mid April 2005, the

announced that the Central Unions franchise would be its fifth team for the expanded Super 14 competition that would begin in 2006. They were awarded the franchise ahead of the Southern and Eastern Cape (see Southern Spears). In the pre-season of their entrance to the new look Super 14 competition, the Cheetahs played both of the other new franchises, new Australian team; the

and 2007 fellow South African team, the Southern Spears. The Cheetahs proved to be the strongest out of the new sides, demolishing the Spears 48 to nil and soundly defeating the Force in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

. The Cheetahs played their first game on 10 February, proving they are fighting fit, but were not good enough on the day for the South African

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

, losing their first official match in

18 points to 30. The Cheetahs won their first Super 14 game in week two, defeating the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

in a thrilling match seeing the Cheetahs win by a single point, 27 to 26. Entering round four of the 2006 season, the Cheetahs were facing the table leaders, the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm, storm system characterized by a Low-pressure area, low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, Beaufort scale, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms tha ...

. In a surprise result, the Cheetahs beat the table leaders, thus winning their first home game and proving they deserve to be in the Super 14. The Cheetahs finally broke their drought in overseas matches with an upset over the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

on 19 March 2011. Following

SANZAAR SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby; previously known as SANZAR) is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from ...

's decision to reduce the number of teams for

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, the

announced that the Cheetahs would be one of the teams cut from the 2018 competition. Instead, the Cheetahs joined the previously-northern hemispherean

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

competition prior to the 2017–18 season. The Cheetahs were unable to compete in the

2020–21 Pro14 The 2020–21 PRO14 (also known as the ''Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the twentieth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the fourth season to be referred to as the ''PRO ...

due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

travel restrictions. Instead, the team played the

Super Rugby Unlocked Super Rugby Unlocked (known as Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked for sponsorship reasons) was a professional rugby union competition played in South Africa from 10 October to 21 November 2020. Sponsored by communications company Vodacom, the tourname ...

in late 2020 and the Preparation Series in early 2021. However, the Cheetahs were not invited into the Pro14 Rainbow Cup. The Pro14 was rebranded as the

for the 2021–22, and the team was not selected to enter it.

Honours

Minor Honours

* Lafarge Zimbabwe Champions Cup winners''
2016
* ''Toyota Challenge:'' winners 4 times

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

runner up 1 time

Stadia

The Cheetahs' home stadium is the Free State Stadium, previously referred to as Vodacom Park for sponsorship purposes, located in

. The stadium had its capacity increased to 48,000 for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. The stadium is the home of Free State rugby as it is also home to the

, a

side which produces a large number of players for the Cheetahs franchise. A then-capacity crowd of 37,383 watched the Cheetahs in their first official Super 14 match against the Bulls on 10 February 2006. The Cheetahs also previously played matches at

Griquas Park Griqua Park (currently known as Windhoek Draught Park for sponsorship reasons) is an 11,000-capacity multi-purpose stadium in Kimberley, South Africa. It is mainly used for rugby union matches and it is the home stadium of provincial Currie ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

, the home of the Griqualand West Rugby Union, and at North West Stadium in

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

, the home of the Griffons Rugby Union.

Season by season record

* Bold indicates current team player

Current squad

The Cheetahs squad for

2022–23 EPCR Challenge Cup The 2022–23 EPCR Challenge Cup was the 9th edition of the EPCR Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 27th e ...

is:

Coaches

* Rassie Erasmus (2006–2007) * Naka Drotské (2008–2015) *

Franco Smith Petrus Francois Smith (born 29 July 1972 in Lichtenburg, South Africa) is a former South African international rugby union player. He is now the head coach for Glasgow Warriors. His regular playing position was fly-half or centre. Playing ...

(2016–2017) *

Rory Duncan Rory Duncan (born 26 July 1977) is a former South African rugby union coach and former player. He started his career at the , representing them in the Vodacom Cup in 1999 and 2001. He then the joined in 2002, where he played for four seasons ...

(2017–2018) *

(2018–2019) *

Hawies Fourie Hawies Fourie is a South African rugby union coach, currently in charge of Pro14 side the . He was also a fly-half, centre or fullback as a player. Career Fourie spent the majority of his playing career playing for amateur club sides in the ...

(2019–present)

Captains

Juan Smith Juanne Hugo Smith (born 30 July 1981) is a South African former professional rugby union player who represented South Africa in international test rugby, the Cheetahs in the Super Rugby competition, and the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup ...

(2006–2011) * Adriaan Strauss (2012–2014) *

Francois Uys Francois Uys (born 12 March 1986) is a South African rugby union footballer who normally plays as a lock or flanker. He plays in the French Pro D2 competition with . Career Uys started his career in Johannesburg with the but, he found firs ...

(2015) * Francois Venter (2016–2018) * Oupa Mohojé (2018) * Tian Meyer (2018–present)

Records

Pro14 records

The Cheetahs' Pro14 records are as follows (updated 11 February 2018):

Super Rugby records

The Cheetahs' Super Rugby records are as follows:

References

External links

* {{Rugby union in South Africa Super Rugby teams South African rugby union teams Bloemfontein Sport in the Northern Cape Sport in the Free State (province) 2005 establishments in South Africa United Rugby Championship teams