The Cheetahs have named an unchanged backline to the one that lost 36-21 to Toulon, while there are changes up front.

Daniel Maartens will start at flank, with Gideon van der Merwe being rested, while Marko Janse van Rensburg starts at hooker and Alulutho Tshakweni will start at loosehead prop.

The Cheetahs decided to rest players and the majority of the changes are simply due to rotation.

The two-time World Cup winner, Frans Steyn, hasn’t come into contention due to his knee injury which will rule him out for between three and four months. The injury is worse than was initially expected and this could derail his World Cup plans.

Cheetahs coach, Hawies Fourie, said that they will once again have to make do without Steyn for a lengthy period and it doesn't look too good for his World Cup hopes.

“He'll be out for about two to three months,” said Fourie

“Frans had a scope on his knee and the prognosis was worse than what the doctor initially thought and he will be on the side-lines for a lengthy period. Our medical team believes that he will be out for most of the Currie Cup anyway."

“It's a bit of a blow to his hopes, he really wanted to go for the World Cup. He's worked really hard since the start of the year after his previous injury, and has dropped quite a bit of weight.

“It's a big setback for him and hopefully he'll recover soon and maybe there's still a bit of a door open for him. Currently we’re not in contact with the Springbok coaches.

“We'll see how it goes, but he needs to recover and get on the field again first.”

Regarding the game on Sunday, Fourie warned that despite the Lions playing against Glasgow Warriors in Scotland in the EPCR Challenge Cup, their second-strings cannot be underestimated and thye need a win to get their campaign back on track.

“We've got to get back on the bike in the Currie Cup,” said Fourie.

“We would have liked at least one log point against the Pumas and less of a points margin, so there is a lot of weight on our shoulders in the coming weeks.

“We need to make up those 40 points we lost against the Pumas and we want to get back to the top of the log. So that means that we've got to make sure that we win our games.”

Sunday’s game at Ellis Park kicks off at 15:00.

Cheetahs - 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Munier Hartzenberg, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Danie Maartens, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Hencus van Wyk, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.

Replacements - 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Lawrence Victor, 19 Mzwanele Zito, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Rewan Kruger, 22 Evardi Boshoff, 23 Cohen Jasper.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport