Cheetahs celebrate Europe with champagne: 'It's been a long time coming'

• The Cheetahs celebrated their inclusion in the Euro Challenge Cup with some champagne at training on Thursday.
• Yet head coach Hawies Fourie says the elation needs to be shelved temporarily for the rest of the Currie Cup.
• He argues it's the Free Staters' form this season that has prompted the powers-that-be to grant them the European opportunity and not winning the Currie Cup would undermine that trust.

The Cheetahs allowed themselves the small indulgence of filling up a few champagne flutes at training on Thursday to celebrate the news that they'll be back in an international competition next season.

Sporting official confirmation from SA Rugby and European Professional Club Rugby (ECPR) as well as the actual signed document, Ross van Reenen, the central franchise's CEO, assembled the players and coaches to share the news that they will be joining the Lions in contesting the European Challenge Cup.

His announcement was met with a hearty applause.

The tournament is effectively to the Champions Cup (which the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks will compete in) what the Europa League is to the Champions League in soccer.

Hawies Fourie, one of the main figures in the Cheetahs' trials and tribulations over the past 18 months after the team was voted out of the PRO14 at the end of 2020, appeared content during the team announcement for Friday's Currie Cup meeting with the Pumas in Bloemfontein without being over-elated.

"It's great news for us. It's been a long time coming," said the Free Staters' head coach.

"We look forward to playing in the competition. Last year we were slated to play in the Challenge Cup, but those plans were cancelled so there was a bit of disappointment. Yet I'm pretty sure everyone is excited about playing some of the top teams in Europe."

However, Fourie then made a point of stating that the Cheetahs now need to temporarily shelve their joy because, if anything, their form in the Currie Cup (9 wins from 10 starts) was a deciding factor in convincing detractors of their suitability for the Challenge Cup. 

Going deep into this year's campaign is now imperative.

"I believe our form to date has been crucial because it's forced the powers-that-be to look at our credentials," said Fourie.

"If we just won four or five matches in this Currie Cup campaign, everyone would've ranked us with some of our competitors locally. There would be no reason to invest in us [by finding an international competition to compete in].

"We continued to knock on the door for two-and-a-half years without any external tournament to compete in, losing a litany of players in the process and gaining many too. 

"We continued to perform at a competitive level. It's been a long process to convince everyone that we're ready for this challenge."

With the added ammunition of spearheads Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar extending their contracts along with the majority of their other stalwarts, the Cheetahs should focus on peaking at the right time.

"The rest of the Currie Cup, personally, is now about being as best prepared as possible to bring the trophy back to Bloemfontein," said Fourie.

"To do that, we need to play very well against the Pumas, then the Bulls and then the semi-final too. If we don't win those matches, we're shooting ourselves in the foot and undermine all the good work we've done.

"We're not worried about Europe for now, there's a lot of water that needs to flow under the bridge. It's Currie Cup or nothing for us currently."

Kickoff is at 18:00.