THE GUINNESS PRO14 fixture between the Cheetahs and Cardiff Blues scheduled to be played on Saturday afternoon has been pushed back after the Welsh region endured a nightmare journey to South Africa.
The crucial round 19 game was due to kick off at 4.15pm local time tomorrow but has been postponed by three hours with Cardiff only arriving in Bloemfontein on Friday evening.
This comes after the Blues had travelled for more than 55 hours and reportedly arrived in South Africa without their luggage.
Cardiff were meant to fly out of London Heathrow on Wednesday evening ahead of tomorrow’s clash at the Toyota Stadium but their departure was delayed by 20 hours, leaving some of the players to sleep on the airport floor.
To compound matters, the squad’s connecting flight to Bloemfontein was then delayed, with three players – Willis Halaholo, Rey Lee Lo and Ethan Lewis — flying ahead on an alternate flight.
The rest of Danny Wilson’s squad finally arrived this evening with the Pro14 confirming kick-off is now 7.15pm local time on Saturday.
Trailing third-placed Cheetahs by five points with three regular season games remaining, Cardiff, who come in off the back of eight consecutive wins in both the Pro14 and Challenge Cup, can boost their chances of qualifying for the play-offs with a victory.
Just the 55 hours... pic.twitter.com/4REpa4Kfhd
— Cardiff Blues (@cardiff_blues) April 6, 2018
Absolute shambles of a trip comes to a end, but without our main luggage 😬 looking forward to tomorrow 👀 cheers @flySAA_US
— Gareth Anscombe (@Gareth_Anscombe) April 6, 2018
Let’s go to South Africa they said it would be fun, they said
— Josh Navidi (@Jnavidi) April 6, 2018
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
Relegation dogfight and play-off race take centre stage on a big weekend of AIL rugby
McGrath in a boot as scrum-half faces race to be fit for Champions Cup semi-final
