Clayton Blommetjies is set to make his return to the side after Darren Adonis and Tapiwa Mafura picked up hamstring niggles this week. Blommetjies, who was recently released from his contract at the Scarlets will don the number 15 jersey.

Carel-Jan Coetzee also earns a start and will run out on the right-wing in the place of Mafura who started last week.

Louis Fouché starts at flyhalf in the place of Tian Schoeman who sustained a calf injury against the Golden Lions.

Upfront, Charles Marais, starts at loosehead prop, with Ox Nche moving to the bench.

In the second row, Walt Steenkamp moves to the bench as he has been battling with a calf niggle as well. This sees JP du Preez earn a start in the number five jersey.

The final change is in the backrow with Abongile Nonkontwana moving back to the starting side at flank after Marnus van der Merwe broke a bone in his foot last week.

A win for the Cheetahs will pretty much assure them of a spot in the semi-finals, while the Sharks are hunting for their second win.

The Cheetahs coach, Franco Smith, says that they don’t want to measure themselves against the Sharks.

“Last week against the Lions we were really good and if you look at the stats, we dominated 90% of the match.

“We won everything except the game.

“Winning is exactly we are working on. After the first 200 minutes for us in the Currie Cup, we were leading 19-0 against the Lions. So if you look at that, we were building and getting really better.

“We have mixed feelings about the last 40 minutes of last weeks’ game. We were dominant and we did get the reward. This week it is all about delivering a complete performance again.

“It’s not about doing it against the Sharks or any other team. Cheetahs rugby has a big vision and winning the Currie Cup is a part of that, but we definitely don’t just want to play. We want to get ourselves to a level which is as high as possible.”

Saturday afternoon’s game at the Shark Tank kicks off at 15:00.

Sharks - 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jeremy Ward (co-captain), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Tera Mtembu (co-captain), 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Mzamo Majola

Replacements - 16 Craig Burden, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Evan Roos, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Rhyno Smith.

Toyota Free State Cheetahs - 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Dries Swanepoel, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Henco Venter, 7 Abongile Nonkontwana, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Charles Marais.

Replacements - 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Reinach Venter, 19 Walt Steenkamp, 20 Gerhard Olivier, 21 Jasper Wiese, 22 Dian Badenhorst/ Tapiwa Mafura, 23 Ruan Pienaar.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport