Springbok discard Rassie Erasmus' return to the playing field has yet again been postponed. The flank was not included in the Free State Cheetahs side for Saturday's Currie Cup encounter with the Eastern Province Elephants in Bloemfontein.

Coach Peet Kleynhans instead named an unchanged team from the one that beat Boland at Wellington in their last outing. According to Kleynhans Erasmus is making good progress, but they didn't want to risk him at this stage of the Currie Cup season.

"We could have selected him, but those ligaments in his foot are not yet 100 percent. He will definitely play in our next game. He ran with the team and he can step on the foot, but we don't want to take a chance right now. We don't want Rassie to injure the foot and be out for even longer," Kleynhans commented on Tuesday.

Erasmus injured his foot in the build-up to the game against the Griffons and aggravated the injury during the game. Better news for Free State fans is that stars like De Wet Oelschig, flyhalf Kennedy Tsimba and hooker André van Niekerk are all fit again and will do duty for the Merit 'A' team in the SA Cup competition on Saturday.

However, wings Friedrich Lombard and Ferdie Wesso and hooker Germaine Brinkhuis are still on the injury list. Lombard, who is tipped to become a Springbok on the end-of-year tour, will be out for another six weeks after sustaining a stress fracture in his pelvis. The latest setback came after the speedy wing had an operation on a finger that kept him out for a few weeks.

Kleynhans is wary of the Elephants, who are with their backs to the wall in their quest for a Top Eight place. "There is something about us and Eastern Province... they always make it difficult for us," said the coach. "They always play great rugby against us, so we'll have to be at our best if we want to pull this one off.

"They are going to come with everything they have. Eastern Province played well against the Lions and they only lost that game in the last 10 minutes. We definitely expect a tough game and will prepare accordingly," added Kleynhans.

Cheetahs: Isak Job, Wylie Human, Helgard Brink, MJ Smith, Edrick Fredericks, Conrad Barnard, Neil Powell, Tokkie Kasselman, Gerrie Britz, Hendro Scholtz, Boela du Plooy (capt), Joe Beukes, Dougie Heymans, Andries van der Linden, Daan Human. Substitutes: Attie Winter, Vorster Zeilinga, Gromingo Mzunga, Kobus Grobbelaar, Jimmy Powell, JP du Toit, Leon van den Heever.