Cardiff Blues match delayed after team endure nightmarish trip from Wales

A nightmare 55 hour travel time from Cardiff to South Africa has seen organisers delay their Pro14 clash with the Cheetahs.

The match will now be played at 18.15 UK time, five hours later than originally scheduled.

A statement from the Pro14 reveals: "Due to flight delays from London and South Africa and again from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein, Cardiff Blues only arrived on Friday evening in Bloemfontein for the round 19 Guinness PRO14 clash against the Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday.

"The Blues have travelled for 50 hours and to accommodate them, it has been decided to push back the kick-off time to 18:15 on Saturday, 7 April in Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein. The match will be broadcast live on SuperSport."

Initially the Blues arrived in Bloemfontein without their bags, though they have now been delivered to the team hotel.

Gareth Anscombe will captain Cardiff Blues in what is a crucial Guinness PRO14 fixture in Bloemfontein.

Wales’ Capital Region head into the game on the back of eight consecutive victories in domestic and European competition and a win would put pressure on the South African-outfit, as the race for the PRO14 Final Series heats up.

26-year-old Anscombe replaces Jarrod Evans at outside half for the Toyota Stadium clash, and he has previous experience of playing at the Bloemfontein venue following his time in Super Rugby with Chiefs.

Anscombe is part of a new-look half-back partnership, with Lloyd Williams introduced to the starting XV as one of 11 changes from last week’s Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Edinburgh.

Elsewhere in the backs, Matthew Morgan and Garyn Smith, who were unused replacements at BT Murrayfield last week, are recalled, while Alex Cuthbert returns from injury to take his place on the wing.

The Welsh international is looking to finish the season on a high, ahead of a summer move to Aviva Premiership champions, Exeter Chiefs.

Seven changes are made in the pack, with last week’s man-of-the-match, Josh Navidi, retaining his place in the back row. He moves to number eight and is joined by openside Olly Robinson, who recovers from a short-term injury lay-off, and Macauley Cook, who edges closer to his 150th appearance for the region.

Seb Davies and Damian Welch combine in the second row, while Rhys Gill, Kirby Myhill and Anton Peikrishvili are given the nod in the front row.

As the season draws to a close, and the Blues remaining competitive in both the PRO14 and Challenge Cup, Wilson believes it’s crucial to manage his squad over the next month, and is aware of the travel and climate challenges facing his side at Bloemfontein.

"We’ll keep taking it game-by-game, because I don’t think you can plan much further ahead than that," said Wilson.

"But you certainly have to keep one eye on the fact that there is a semi final around the corner, after two games in South Africa. You have to manage your squad for that type of challenge.

"You have to find the balance, with the headache - albeit a nice headache - of thinking about the semi final as well.

"The travel element will take out of the recovery of a couple of players and therefore we haven’t risked on them.

"It’s also the fall out of the game we had last week. Winning an away quarter final against a side like Edinburgh was quite an achievement, but we had a pretty battled and bruised squad after the game.

"We’ve had a tough run of games recently, and played a lot of top sides, and it’s going to take its toll, but the important thing now is to manage the squad correctly going into the last few games of the season.

"We’ve obviously done our fair bit of research into the travel and how to reduce the effect of travel, then obviously playing at altitude, which we will do in the first game, and we won’t have a huge amount of time to climatise to that."

Cardiff Blues have plenty of firepower to introduce from the bench, as the likes of Josh Turnbull, Ellis Jenkins, Dillon Lewis, Tomos Williams and Rey Lee-Lo have impressed over the past few weeks.

Cardiff Blues: Matthew Morgan; Alex Cuthbert, Garyn Smith, Willis Halaholo, Owen Lane; Gareth Anscombe (capt), Lloyd Williams; Rhys Gill, Kirby Myhill, Anton Peikrishvili, Seb Davies, Damian Welch, Macauley Cook, Olly Robinson, Josh Navidi

Replacements: Ethan Lewis, Brad Thyer, Dillon Lewis, Josh Turnbull, Ellis Jenkins, Tomos Williams, Steven Shingler, Rey Lee-Lo