The Leopards go into the championship match as the slight favourites by virtue of beating the Northern Free Staters 36-26 last month.

Nothing less than a physical battle will be expected when these two teams lock horns.

The Leopards coach, André Pretorius, told OFM Sport that he expects a tough battle and this is something that they welcome as a collective.

“With regards to the final, our outlook is pretty much the same,” said the former Springbok flyhalf.

“We’re going to focus on what we have to do and how we are going to go about doing that. We’ve placed a really big priority on the guys that get to wear the jersey on Friday, to understand that they are representing the whole group's work through this campaign.

“The players really feel that we haven’t hit our best 80-minute performance yet and they hope to do that on Friday.

“Regarding the Griffons, we know that if you lack intensity, attitude and physicality on the day, it’s going to be a long day. I think that is one thing that we got right in the previous game against them.

“I think they learnt a couple of things from that game and they will definitely come back swinging harder in this one.

“It makes for a really good fight and a really good game, so we are looking forward to that.”

This afternoon’s big final at Olën Park kicks off at 16:30.

Leopards - 15 Duren Hoggman, 14 Lincoln Daniels, 13 Dries Truter, 12 Tjaart Benade, 11 Eugene Hare, 10 Danrich Visagie, 9 Riaan Genis, 8 André Fouché, 7 Heinz, Bertram, 6 Siya Mdaka, 5 Vincent Maruping, 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Ruan Swiegers, 2 Robey Leibrandt, 1 Komape Moloto.

Replacements – 16 Gustav du Rand, 17 Ruben du Plessis, 18 JP Mans, 19 HP Swart, 20 Shirwin Cupido, 21 Edmund Rheeder, 22 Johan Retief, 23 Keagan Fortune.

Griffons - 15 Domenic Smit, 14 Granwill Matthys, 13 Niell Stannard, 12 Duan Pretorius, 11 Morné Joubert, 10 Aphiwe Stemele, 9 Jawinn Juries, 8 Sokuphumla Xakalashe, 7 Ludio Williams, 6 Kenan Cronjé, 5 Michael Benadie, 4 Wikus Niewenhuis, 3 Doctor Booysen, 2 Kwezi Mkhafu, 1 Stephan de Jager.

Replacements – 16 Dandré Delport, 17 Bandisa Ndlovu, 18 Christo Bezuidenhout, 19 Hannes Janse van Rensburg, 20 Jean Pretorius, 21 Ethan Williams, 22 Thato Mavundla, 23 Arthur Williams.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport