Special milestone for Aranos Coetzee

The Toyota Cheetahs are travelling to Cape Town to face DHL Western Province in the first match of their Carling Currie Cup second round.   The action at the DHL Cape Town Stadium will kick off at 16:45 with a live broadcast on SuperSport.

This will be a special match for the 34-year-old tighthead prop, Johan (Aranos) Coetzee, who will be earning his 100th Toyota Cheetah cap.

Aranos, a real anchor in the Toyota Cheetah scrum, played in 22 Super Rugby (2016-'17)-, and 23 Currie Cup matches for the Toyota Cheetahs.

Coetzee is the first South African rugby player to represent a SA franchise in 50 Pro14 matches. He played in 52 Pro14 games for the Toyota Cheetahs between 2017 and 2020.

He was also involved in the Promotion / Relegation match for Currie Cup status against the SWD in 2018.  In 2021, he wore the Toyota Cheetah No. 3 jersey in four games in the Preparation Series.

Aranos has also been playing Test rugby for his home country, Namibia, since 2015, and was in the World Cup teams of 2015 and 2019. He has already played in 25 Tests for Namibia.

He made his first-class debut in 2010 for the Currie Cup team of the Leopards (11 games) before he made his way to Europe.  He played for two French clubs - Racing Metro (2010-'12: 12 games) and Brive (2012-'15: 62 games) before joining the Toyota Cheetahs in early 2016.

Coach Hawies Fourie announced his team:

Toyota Cheetahs

15.          Cohen Jasper

14.          Daniel Kasende

13.          David Brits

12.          Frans Steyn

11.          Rosko Specman 

10.          Reinhardt Fortuin

9.            Ruan Pienaar (C) 

8.            Jeandré Rudolph

7.            Andisa Ntsila

6.            Gideon van der Merwe

5.            Victor Sekekete

4.            Aidon Davis

3.            Aranos Coetzee

2.            Louis van der Westhuizen

1.            Alulutho Tshakweni

16.          Marnus van der Merwe

17.          Cameron Dawson

18.          Marne Coetzee

19.          Ockie Barnard

20.          Mihlali Mosi

21.          Rewan Kruger

22.          Brandon Thomson

23.          Robert Ebersohn

The referee for the match is AJ Jacobs.  He will be assisted by Dylen November and Waleed Moerat.  The TMO is Egon Seconds. 

The following players are not eligible for team selection due to injury:  George Cronjè (knee), Branden de Kock (knee), Rynier Bernardo (shoulder), Enver Brandt (groin), Malcolm Jaer (ankle), Craig Barry (knee), Clayton Blommetjies (knee), Conraad van Vuuren (back) and Siya Masuku (cold/flu).