Cheetahs dealt triple injury blow ahead of WP

Munier Hartzenberg. Photo: Morgan Piek

The Toyota Cheetahs were hit with a triple injury blow during their 34-34 draw against the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup in Bloemfontein last week.

The defending champions will be without three star players for this weekend’s game against Western Province in Cape Town. Friedle Olivier is out with a concussion, Daniel Maartens has a fractured finger, and the outside centre, Munier Hartzenberg, has a shoulder injury.

The Cheetahs coach, Izak van der Westhuizen, told OFM Sport that they have fresh injuries and this is a blow for the team.

Daniel Maartens scoring his try against the Sharks in the EPCR Challenge Cup. Photo: Morgan Piek

“Friedle is one of them,” said Van der Westhuizen. “Daniel Maartens picked up an injury and he’s going to be out for a couple of weeks, which is a bit longer than we initially thought. Then Munier Hartzenberg also picked up an injury, but he is going to be short-term, so he will be out for a week.”

Olivier in turn said against the Bulls he took a knock to the head and he only started showing symptoms of the head injury much later.

“I’m not playing this weekend, I got a concussion here against the Bulls,” said the man who scored a try last week. “In the 65th minute I got concussed, I got a massive blow against the head. It passed and I continued playing the game, and then on Sunday morning I started getting the symptoms.”

Olivier and Maartens were both just a couple of games into their return from long-term injuries.

There is, however, some good news with Van der Westhuizen confirming that the centre, Evardi Boshoff, could make his return after a long injury lay-off.

Saturday’s match at the Cape Town Stadium kicks off at 19:10.

By Morgan Piek and originally appeared in the Bloemfontein Courant