Last week Pienaar missed the Cheetahs 31-27 win over the Bulls in Pretoria due to a family bereavement.

Siya Masuku started in the backline marshal position, however, the hero of the win at Loftus Versfeld misses out this week because of calf strain.

This is the only change to the starting team that won last week.

On the bench, the only change sees Evardi Boshoff coming on in the play of Zinedine Booysen.

The Cheetahs coach, Hawies Fourie, told OFM Sport that they are geared for a good and tough semi-final, and he wants to see the supporters come out in their numbers.

“I feel if we have a full Toyota Stadium and with the support behind us, we will not have a slow start. The way we trained this week, we want to do things a bit faster and be switched on from the start.”

“We would love it if we could fill the stadium. It is a special game against the Bulls. Semi-finals don’t come often, so we must make the most of it as a team. We want our support to come in thousands, dressed in orange and behind the team.”

Saturday’s big semi-final at the Toyota Stadium kicks off at 15:00.

Cheetahs - 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Reinhardt Fortuin, 11 Cohen Jasper, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Friedle Olivier, 7 Sibabalo Qoma, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Beertjie van Vuuren, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Schalk Ferreira.

Replacements – 16 Chucky van der Westhuizen, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jeandré Rudolph, 20 George Cronjé, 21 Daniel Maartens, 22 Evardi Boshoff, 23 Robert Ebersohn.

Bulls - 15 Johan Goosen, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 David Kriel, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Keagan Johannes, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Nizaam Carr, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.

Replacements - 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Sibongile Novuka, 23 Wandisile Simelane.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport