{"id":793722,"date":"2026-10-06T12:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793722\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T12:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:50:12","slug":"springboks-great-francois-steyn-set-to-call-swansea-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/793722\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks great Francois Steyn set to call Swansea home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>  Published: 3 hours ago | 6 October 2026 05:10 EDT  <\/p>\n<p>mens<\/p>\n<p>challenge-cup<\/p>\n<p>    Frans Steyn of South Africa look on during The Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Argentina at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on September 24, 2022 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Darren Stewart\/Gallo Images\/Getty Images) <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"expand\" src=\"https:\/\/eu-cdn.rugbypass.com\/images\/common-svg\/select-arrow.svg\" height=\"6\" width=\"11\"\/>      <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rugbypass.com%2F\" onclick=\"GATracking.sendDataLayerEvent(&#039;preferredsourcegoogle&#039;);\" aria-label=\"Google Prefered Source\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791291011_49_google_preferred_source_badge_light.png\" alt=\"Google Prefered Source\" width=\"141\" height=\"44\" class=\"google-source\"\/> <\/a>     <\/p>\n<p>The Toyota <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/cheetahs-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cheetahs<\/a> will make Ospreys\u2019 St Helen\u2019s their European home this season after striking an agreement to stage their EPCR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/challenge-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Challenge Cup<\/a> pool fixtures in Swansea.<\/p>\n<p>The South African side, coached by Springboks great Francois Steyn, will face Dragons at the ground on December 13 before returning to take on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/top-14\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Top 14<\/a> outfit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/perpignan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Perpignan<\/a> on January 17.<\/p>\n<p>Both matches will form part of double-header weekends at St Helen\u2019s. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/ospreys\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ospreys<\/a> host <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/harlequins\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Harlequins<\/a> 24 hours before the Cheetahs meet the Dragons, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/vannes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vannes<\/a> visit Swansea the day before the Cheetahs face Perpignan.<\/p>\n<p>The arrangement is the latest step in a growing relationship between the two clubs, which has already included player-development opportunities. The sides will also explore the possibility of training together while the Cheetahs are in Wales.<\/p>\n<p>Ospreys managing director Richard Lancaster said the move showcased what owning their own venue could offer, while Cheetahs chief operating officer MJ Smith said the aim was to make St Helen\u2019s a \u201chome away from home\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/100074.png.webp\"\/> <\/p>\n<p> Cheetahs <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/307.png.webp\"\/> <\/p>\n<p> Dragons RFC <\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/live\/cheetahs-vs-gwent-dragons\/?g=952404\/\" class=\"link-box\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">   <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ospreys are grateful to the WRU for its permission to play these matches at St Helen\u2019s,\u201d Lancaster said. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited to welcome the Toyota Cheetahs for these two EPCR Challenge Cup fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor us, it also demonstrates the opportunities that St Helen\u2019s can create. Having our own venue gives us the ability to bring additional high-quality rugby and events to Swansea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith added: \u201cWe aim to make St Helen\u2019s a home away from home for the Toyota Cheetahs and, importantly, for our supporters abroad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have built some wonderful relationships within European rugby, especially with Rugby Nederland and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/zebre\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zebre<\/a> Parma in Italy. Now we have this wonderful opportunity to work with the Ospreys in Swansea, and we are very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cheetahs director of rugby Steyn said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to be welcomed so warmly by our friends in rugby, the Ospreys. St Helen\u2019s has a proud history, and we\u2019re looking forward to playing there, experiencing the newly redeveloped stadium and making it our home in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published: 3 hours ago | 6 October 2026 05:10 EDT mens challenge-cup Frans Steyn of South Africa look&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-793722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}