Marais moves into his more familiar role after playing at inside centre against the Stormers in Cape Town before their bye.

The winger Sergeal Petersen has also been named in the starting XV, and after being a late withdrawal ahead of their last two outings, Franco Smith is confident that he is ready to play.

Smith told OFM Sport that Marais has proven himself in the number ten jumper and added that Fred Zeilinga could do with a bit of a breather.

“The way we want to play and the way the conditions are looking to pan out I think it’s important to have Niel in there.

“I also believe that Fred has really pulled his weight up to now, but it he is starting to pick up a lot of little niggles.

“It’s a way of managing the players, but obviously I’m very confident in Niel.

“Niel played the last games in the Currie Cup last year and he was outstanding.

“He has only started two games this year, but I think it’s time to hand the baton over for a bit”.

Saturday’s match will be the first time in two years that the Cheetahs test their mettle against New Zealand opponents.

Saturday afternoon’s match at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein kicks off at 15:05.

Toyota Cheetahs – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Nico Lee, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Henco venter, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Tier Schoeman, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements – 16 Elandré Huggett, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Francois Uys, 20 Niell Jordaan, 21 Junior Pokomela / Luther Obi, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Fred Zeilinga.

Chiefs - 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Toni Pulu, 13 Sam McNicol, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (co-captain), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane (co-captain), 6 Mitchell Brown, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Taleni Seu, 3 Atu Moli, 2 Brayden Mitchell, 1 Kane Hames.

Replacements -  16 Hika Elliot, 17 Siegfried Fisi'ihoi, 18 Sefo Kautai, 19 Dominic Bird, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Alex Nankivell, 23 Shaun Stevenson.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport