The starting team named to play Glasgow Warriors last weekend, before the game was called off, has been retained for this SA derby.

Sithole suffered a concussion during training earlier this week and was ruled out of the clash, which kicks off at 16h00 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Earlier this week, Emirates Lions scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys acknowledged the quality of the reigning champions but preferred to focus on his side’s preparations ahead of Saturday's encounter.

“There’s no doubt that the Stormers are a quality side, but in saying that our focus this week has been on our plans and how we want to execute on Saturday. We control what we can, with a sharp focus on our processes in the build-up,” said Redelinghuys.

On the Emirates Lions’ performances against local opposition, the former Bok prop believes his side has the ability to turn results around in this campaign: “We certainly want to improve our performances against local opposition. We believe if we can better our performances in local Vodacom URC derbies, the results will take care of themselves. There’s no better opportunity than this Saturday at home in front of our home fans.”

Emirates Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Emmanuel Tshituka, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (captain), 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 JP Smith. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Zander du Plessis.