Toyota Cheetahs in Vodacom Super Rugby

After wide speculation over numerous months, SANZAAR has announced that the 2018 Super Rugby tournament has been restructured for 2018 with three fewer franchises participating in the tournament resulting in a 15-team format with five teams from New Zealand, four from Australia, four from South Africa, one from Japan; and one from Argentina.

The changes will see two South African Rugby franchises eliminated from Super Rugby 2018.

SA Rugby will now commence with internal consultations to identify it’s four entrants to the 2018 competition. The process will start on Tuesday the 11th of April 2017, in Johannesburg, where the SA Rugby Franchise Rugby Committee will meet.

The newly-established Franchise Rugby Committee made up of representatives of all six teams – The Toyota Cheetahs will be represented by Mr Harold Verster, will congregate on Tuesday to finalise the criteria for selection. All six current South African franchises will be measured against the established selection criteria.

There is a substantial process that still needs to be followed before a final decision can be taken. SA Rugby said that it hoped it would be able to confirm its 2018 Super Rugby participants by the end of June 2017.

These are challenging and uncertain times for all the Super Rugby franchises in SA. The Toyota Cheetahs are 100% committed to the process and we strongly believe that through an honest and fair process we stand a strong chance of retaining our Super Rugby status.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to an exciting clash with the Chiefs. Our team is focused and ready to take on the Chiefs this Saturday at 15h05 at Toyota Stadium.