I’m slowly starting to remove my Cheetahs hat, I know by now it should have been off already as  we’re not in the competition anymore, but I needed some time to ponder on what happened: What we’ve done well and the  mistakes we’ve made.

 Let’s start with the bad. Once again it took us more than 7 games to lift our defensive efforts.

When those started to fall in place the victories came – irrespective of our opponents. The second thing that bothered me was the injuries and previously I’ve questioned our pre-season conditioning program so I’m not going to repeat this. And the third and final concern for me is who will be leaving us... this is the one thing we don’t have control over, let’s just hope and pray that Toyota as a sponsor have seen enough this season to dig a little deeper into their pockets.

I believe with a fully fit squad we’ll close the defensive gaps next year and the majority of the close losses we had will automatically be converted into victories. No one can question the Cheetah’s attacking style and skills, add a bit of self belief for next season and I’m already looking forward to the taste of success.

On the up side we had more victories than ever before in our Super rugby history. By mentioning all the reasons why would be repetitive, refer to my previous blogs. I want the Cheetahs to kick off next season where they finished this one. It does not matter who leaves us for greener pastures, it does not matter how tough the draw will be – we need to make sure we are quick out of the blocks next year.

If we are not, all the good we’ve done this season will be wasted.

A special mention needs to be made of  the unsung hero, work horse and most underrated player of the season in my view -

Davon Raubenheimer.

He came in due to injuries to other players, but grabbed his opportunity with both hands. Most of his work happened behind the scenes and he freed up guys like Ashley Johnson to play their natural game.

So, glamour boys aside – my Cheetah player of the Super rugby campaign 2011 is Davon Raubenheimer by a mile.