Cheetahs coach Frans Steyn insists his players will carry the memory of their heavy loss to Griquas two weeks ago into Saturday’s Currie Cup semi-final in Kimberley.

On 29 August, the Cheetahs were humbled 40-10 by their neighbours at the Free State Stadium — a result Steyn insists remains front of mind in Bloemfontein.

“After that game, I told the guys that it is going to stick with you forever while I am here,” Steyn told Rugby365. “Every time we think we are too good, I am going to pull that game out of the archives.

“We made some silly mistakes and individual errors, and it cost us in the first 20 minutes. Hopefully we can fix that and it can be tighter.”

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The Free Staters scraped into the playoffs with two losing bonus points from a 35-31 defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend. While Steyn admits there are still areas of concern, he hasn’t changed much.

“You are not going to fix it in a week. We have to do whatever we can, and hopefully our stuff is in place and we focus on what we do well and what makes us great. That will be the message from me this week.”

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Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images