New recruits Andries Coetzee – who is back in Johannesburg after a stint in Europe – and Marius Louw, who joined from the Cell C Sharks, both start in the backline, while the rest of the team have a similar look as last season.

On the bench, Ruan Smith joins his twin brother JP amongst the front row replacements after signing with the Emirates Lions in the off season, while Gianni Lombard is also back at Emirates Airline Park.

Zander du Plessis, on loan from Windhoek Draught Griquas, has also been included on the bench.

The match kicks off at 16h05 at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday and AJ Jacobs is the referee.

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