Tian Meyer starts at scrumhalf in the place of Shaun Venter, and he also takes over the captaincy of the team.

Upfront, Reinach Venter, will start at hooker at the expense of Marnus van der Merwe. Jacques du Toit and Van der Merwe are both on the bench.

Gerhard Olivier moves to flank, while Junior Pokomela moves to the back of the scrum.

The coach, Franco Smith, says they are expecting a wet game in Dublin.

“With regards to the changes, Jasper Wiese, picked up a stomach bug, so he is not available for the match. It is going to be soaking wet on Friday. It looks like there will be 6.2mm of rain and there is going to be quite a strong win, so because of that we have gone with Geyser (Reinach Venter), to give us a bit of added power in the scrum.

“The only other change is Tian Meyer. I think that he is will bring a bit of new energy to the team.

“Leinster will be a very difficult opponent and there is a reason why they are the champions in two competitions.

“They have a very good group of players with a lot of Irish and age group players in their squad.

“They also have a very strong foreign contingent with the likes of James Lowe and Scott Fardy to stand for their national players.

“It is going to be a massive challenge for us, but hopefully we will be able to record our best performance of the tour.”

Tomorrow evening’s game at the RDS Arena kicks off at 21:35.

Toyota Cheetahs – 15 Louis Fouché, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Dries Swanepoel, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Abongile Nonkontwana, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements – 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Marnus van der Merwe, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Rudy Paige, 23 Shaun Venter.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport