The former Montpellier player has been at the Cheetahs since last year and finally gets his chance.

He will form the midfield combination with Siya Masuku who is also on debut.

Brandon Thomson will start at flyhalf for the game. Thomson has played in a few warm-up games for the Cheetahs, but this will also be his debut in the Currie Cup.

Upfront Marnus van der Merwe will start at hooker, while Jeandré Rudolph, Jacques Potgieter, and Aidon Davis form the backrow.

The bench sees the long-awaited return of the influential loose-forward, Junior Pokomela, who has previously captained the Cheetahs. The CUT Ixias scrumhalf, Zinedine Booysen, is also among the replacements and he is another debutant.

Stand-in coach, Charl Strydom, told OFM Sport that they are delighted for Botha.

“We're really happy for him. Earlier in the team meeting we said that we don't think we've had a player that made his debut during the same week as his birthday.

“He trained with us last year during the preseason, so he is pretty familiar with that we are doing.

“He was at the Shimlas now, but it is good to have him back. There are a couple of guys that made their debuts against the Griquas, and it's going to be the same for him this week.”

Friday afternoon's game at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 16:00.

Toyota Cheetahs - 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Lesley Botha, 12 Siya Masuku, 11 Cohen Jasper, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Ruan Pienaar (captain), 8 Aidon Davis, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Jeandré Rudolph, 5 Jean Drosté, 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Hencus van Wyk, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.

Replacements - 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Beertjie van Vuuren, 19 Victor Sekekete, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Mihali Mosi, 22 Zinedine Booysen, 23 Malcolm Jaer.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport