Couple that with the fact that there are more home derbies in this year’s competition and you have a recipe for some big surprises where The Cheetahs are concerned.

Historically though, they’ve battled to raise their game against the teams from New Zealand and Australia when they play away and they tend to rely very heavily on Captain Fantastic Juan Smith and terrific springbok Heinrich Brussouw.  Last year, again if I’m not mistaken (I’m not a proper journalist so I don’t really do research) the Cheetahs lost every game they played without Juan Smith, and won every game they played with him leading the side which illustrates just how important he is to them.

The Cheetahs battle to keep their best players.  It’s a well known fact that they simply don’t have the bank account that teams like the Bulls, Sharks, Western Province and now the Lions have.  Off the top of my head, they’ve lost star performers Meyer Bosman, Lionel Mapoe and Bjorn Basson since last season.

They have gained a few guys though, Andries Strauss joins from the Sharks and Phillip Burger has returned from Europe to bolster their back three, he’ll form a great combination with big Hennie Danniller at the back and whoever the other wing is, with Mapoe gone it could be either backup fullback Riaan Viljoen or Danwel Demas.

It’s also worth noting that former Lion Ryno Benjamin, who is great at sevens but seems to smear butter on his hands whenever he plays Superugby, and Earl Rose, via the Griquas, have joined the Cheetahs franchise.  Earl Rose is probably and quite unanimously the most hated and jibed rugby player in the country, and I’d like to see him show some courage and silence his critics by breaking into the Super squad.  He was one of the few players to impress on the Springbok’s 2009 end of year tour and then inexplicably lost his mojo completely.  He could do nothing right in 2010 and was eventually relegated to club rugby.  He is talented, there is no doubt, but the fact that he almost always has some sort of cataclysmic brain fart implosion doesn’t help his cause.

It is also about time the Ebersohn twins make their mark.  Robert has been impressive for the SA sevens side and at 13 for the Cheetahs the last while and Sias looks as though he’s about to make the 10 jersey his own ahead of former Lion Louis Strydom Coach Naka Drotske seems to be easing him into the pressure cooker of big time rugby slowly but I think wrapping a guy in cotton wool only delays the emergence of his true character.  If he is to show why many consider him a future Springbok then he needs to play and show everyone what he’s made of, like Superpat did last year for the Sharks.

If the twins step up and control the game like they did in the junior ranks then the Cheetahs could be a force to be reckoned with.  Much will depend on their inspirational captain Juan Smith, as it always does, if he stays fit then they could break into the top three in SA but I don’t think they will. Depth is their Achilles heel and injuries and overplaying of key players will take its toll.

I still can’t see them getting ahead of the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers in the South African conference.  Those teams simply have too much depth and too much talent in their ranks.  It remains to be seen what the newly cash flush Lions will do.  It looks like the two feline teams will be fighting out for the wooden spoon amongst the SA sides once more; and with the Highlanders, Rebels and Force overall.

Ryan Quirk is the author of the Sport24 Blog :http://blogs.sport24.co.za/RyanQ