The hooker, Marnus van der Merwe, who was set for a first start in quite some time, was forced to withdraw from the match due to a hamstring injury.

This sees Wilmar Arnoldi slotting back into the frontrow, while the Central University of Technology Ixias hooker, Janus Venter, comes onto the bench.

Should the product of E.G. Jansen take to the park in the Lowveld, it will be a Cheetahs debut for the 22-year-old.

Venter has previously represented the union for the Free State XV in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge.

Friday’s games between the Pumas and the Cheetahs at the Mbombela Stadium kicks off at 16:45.

Toyota Cheetahs - 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Malcolm Jaer, 13 Chris Smit, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Craig Barry, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Ruan Pienaar (captain), 8 Jacques Potgieter, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Chris Massyn, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Cameron Dawson.

Replacements – 16 Janus Venter, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Beertjie van Vuuren, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Rosko Specman.

Pumas - 15 Devon Williams, 14 Etienne Taljaard, 13 Erich Cronjé, 12 Ali Ngijima, 11 Tapiwa Mafura, 10 Eddie Fouché, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Francois Kleinhans, 6 Daniel Maartens, 5 Darien Landsberg, 4 Pieter Janse van Vuren (captain), 3 Marné Coetzee, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Morgan Naudé.

Replacements - 16 AJ le Roux, 17 Dewald Maritz, 18 Ruan Kramer, 19 Jaco Willemse, 20 Kwanda Dimaza, 21 Phumzile Maqondwana, 22 Ginter Smuts, 23 Wayne van der Bank, 24 Sebastian de Klerk.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport