Cheetahs to tackle Super Rugby outfit Western Force in 4-match series

The Cheetahs are set to face Super Rugby Pacific contenders, the Western Force, in a series later this year.

The men from Bloemfontein are fresh off winning the 2023 Currie Cup for the seventh time in their history. In the aftermath of their 25-17 final win over the Pumas on Saturday, coach Hawies Fourie revealed that more was in store for the Cheetahs.

As part of their pre-season, the Cheetahs will play the Perth franchise in a four-match series starting at the end of August.

"We will play the Western Force twice in Bloemfontein and twice in Perth," Fourie told Rugby365.

"We are looking forward to that. It will be great to measure ourselves against a Super Rugby team again. I watched the Super Rugby final and it was high quality."

5 talking points | Currie Cup final: Cheetahs deserved champions, but tournament needs rethink

In terms of other competitions, Fourie added that they were waiting for invites from the European Challenge Cup competition.

This year, the Cheetahs were knocked out by eventual winners Toulon in the Round of 16. 

"I don't know when those two (Challenge Cup) invitees will be revealed, but we are hoping one of those will be the Cheetahs and that we will be competing in the Challenge Cup again in December and January," he continued.

"I hope that we will be there again. We enjoyed playing in the Challenge Cup and it meant a lot to us. We picked up a lot of experience and stood our ground."