He will captain the Lions against the Tafel Lager Griquas on Friday evening at Eliis Park in the first home-game for the Johannesburg-based side in Super Rugby Unlocked.

 The starting line-up sees Gianni Lombard in the number 15 jersey while Stean Pienaar and Courtnall Skosan will patrol the side-lines at wing, Wandisile Simelane will join forces with Dan Kriel at centre and MJ Pelser gets the nod as flank forward.

On the bench the following players are set to get a run for the first time in 258 days since the previous match on home-soil - PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Jannie du Plessis, Reinhard Nothnagel, Jaco Kriel, Ross Cronjé, Burger Odendaal and Tiaan Swanepoel.

The day will kick off with the all-important SA Rugby Under 21 Championship final which will see the Lions Under 21’s, under the coaching of Mzwakhe Nkosi, Wessel Roux and Wynand Ellis, take on the reigning champions, the Blue Bulls Under 21 team at 14:00.

Lions -  15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies (captain), 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Len Massyn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 MJ Pelser, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole.

Replacements – 16 PJ Botha, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Ross Cronjé, 22 Burger Odendaal, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.

Griquas - 15 James Verity-Amm, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 André Swarts, 11 Eduan Keyter, 10 George Whitehead (captain), 9 Zak Burger, 8 Carl Els, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Adré Smith, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 HJ Luus, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel.

Replacements - 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Mox Mxoli, 18 John-Roy Jenkinson, 19 Johan Momsen, 20 Ewan Coetzee, 21 Theo Maree, 22 Tinus de Beer, 23 Masixole Banda, 24 Bandisa Ndlovu, 25 CJ Velleman, 26 Johnathan Francke.