There is a debut on the cards for the former Southern Kings stalwart, Schalk Ferreira, while the seasoned Springbok, Ruan Pienaar, has been named on the bench for his long-awaited return after a serious knee injury.

In the backline, Clayton Blommetjies starts at fullback, with Duncan Saal and the Springbok Sevens speedster, Rosko Specman, on the wings.

Chris Smith will form the midfield-combination alongside the two-time World Cup winner, Frans Steyn, while Reinhardt Fortuin and Tian Meyer will form the halfback combination.

Up front, Jeandré Rudolph, George Cronjé and Andisa Ntsila will play in the back row, while Rynier Bernardo makes his return to the Cheetahs following a stint in Japan to play alongside the Italy-bound, Carl Wegner, in the second row. Wegner will also captain the team.

In the front row, Aranos Coetzee, returns from a long injury lay-off to start at tighthead prop, while Schalk Ferreira makes his Cheetahs debut at loosehead prop. Wilmar Arnoldi will start ahead of Marnus van der Merwe at hooker.

Pienaar, who has been out of action since October 2020, returns from his injury to slot in on the bench ahead of Ruben de Haas, who will be heading to Saracens in England later in the year.

Saturday’s game between the Stormers and Toyota Cheetahs at the Cape Town Stadium in Greenpoint kicks off at 17:15.

Toyota Cheetahs - 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Chris Smit, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 George Cronjé, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Carl Wegner (captain), 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi , 1 Schalk Ferreira.

Replacements - 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Beertjie van Vuuren, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Victor Sekekete, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Dries Swanepoel, 23 Rhyno Smith.

@MorganPiek OFM Sport