Du Plessis, who is no stranger to the number ten jersey, has played the most of his rugby at inside centre the season, while the seasoned campaigner, George Whitehead, rotates to the bench.

The versatile Rynhardt Jonker, who is on loan from the Sharks will start at inside centre.

Upfront, Derik Pretorius, returns to start at lock after being a late withdrawal ahead of the match against the Bulls.

Griquas coach, Pieter Bergh, told OFM Sport it’s important to have a strong bench.

“There is only one game in the nine Currie Cup games we have played this year, where we haven't used our full bench to finish a match. In all of the other matches we've used every single player.

“If you look at especially for the backline, we have a lot of experience coming off the bench with Stefan Ungerer, George Whitehead and Christopher Hollis.

“You need good players starting a game, but you also need good players to finish a game.

“Gone are the days where you pick you 15 best players to start a much and they have to play 80-minutes while the replacements are only used for injuries.

“We've got a strong 23 this week and we've got very good players coming on from the bench. Hopefully that experience will help us against the Cheetahs.

Tomorrow’s Currie Cup derby in Kimberley kicks off at 14:30.

Griquas - 15 Ashlon Davids, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Zander du Plessis, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Siba Qoma, 7 Hanru Sirgel, 6 Niel Otto (captain), 5 Derik Pretorius, 4 Johan Retief, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Janco Uys, 1 Kudzwai Dube.

Replacements - 16 Gustav du Randt, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Andries Schutte, 19 Cameron Lindsay, 20 Carl El, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 George Whitehead, 23 Chris Hollis.

Cheetahs - 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Ruan Pienaar (captain), 8 Mihali Mosi, 7 Andisa Ntsila, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Aidon Davis, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Cameron Dawson.

Replacements – 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Beertjie van Vuuren, 19 Ockie Barnard, 20 Jeandré Barnard, 21 Rewan Kruger, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Cohen Jasper.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport