The Lions are still winless in the Currie Cup following eight matches while the second placed Cheetahs are unbeaten after seven games.

The Lions are out of the running to make the playoffs in the URC and this could see them bolstering their Currie Cup squad.

The last time these two teams met was in March when the Cheetahs beat the Lions 66-14 at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.

The Cheetahs' coaches, Hawies Fourie, told OFM Sport that they will face a tougher team than during the first half of the competition.

“They will be a desperate team,” said Fourie.

“It's not nice to go through a season without winning a game. My gut feel is that they will use quite a few of their URC players and they will also be a different team than the one we played against in Bloem.

We are preparing for that, but we will be focusing on our own goals.

“We are sort of fourth on the log in the second half of the competition, and our aim is to win that as well.”

Fridays' game at Ellis Park kicks off at 19:00.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport