“With this being a semifinal you cannot underestimate any team and we know that the Cheetahs will come hard at us,” Stick said. “But we will go out there and stick to our gameplan and not try anything fancy. Our objective is to focus on our strengths and to make sure we implement our gameplan on the day.”

The men from Port Elizabeth will go into this match with the confidence of having beaten the Cheetahs on two previous encounters, the first a 28 – 15 in the opening round in Bloemfontein and the second a 29 – 10 in their return match in Port Elizabeth.

“We have aimed to play together as a team this season and this is a good squad with several team leaders. We don’t do anything complicated and the players have been totally committed to the cause,” Stick added.

Ward said they knew they were in for a massive physical test against the Free Staters, but said they were ready for the challenge.

“We know it will be a hard physical battle, but we are confident we will be up to it,” he said. “We are making sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves and we know we have to continue to the fight and to remain hungry for success.”

Kick-off is at 3pm.

Eastern Province:

15 Keanu Vers 14 Mabhutana Peter 13 Yamkela Nyalambisa 12 Jeremy Ward 11 Athi Mayinje 10 Michael Brink 9 James Hall 8 Junior Pokomela 7 Hayden Tharratt 6 SF Nieuwoudt 5 Lusanda Badiyana 4 Robert Lyons 3 Nicolaas Oosthuizen 2 Thango Balekile 1 Greg Jackson

Replacements:

16 Masikan Mazwi 17 Xandre Vos 18 Matthew Howes 19 Whihan Coetzer 20 Xholisa Matshoba 21 Sibusiso Ngeokovane 22 Garrick Mattheus 23 Dominik Uytnbogaardt