Lions suffer Kriel Blow

Kriels sustained a quadriceps injury during the captains run on Thursday, however the extent of Kriel's injury is not known at this stage.

As a result, flank Stephan de Wit has been named at No.7 while Albertus Smit moves to across to the No.6 flank and scrumhalf Ross Cronje, who put in a man of the match performance last weekend, will take over the captaincy role from Kriel.

Golden Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has made three other changes to the forwards which downed the Sharks 31-16 last weekend. In the front row, Jacques van Rooyen will start at loosehead prop, with the versatile Ruan Dreyer shifting to tighthead.

Additionally, Martin Muller will start at lock while Fabian Booysen returns to the No.8 as a result of the injury to Ruaan Lerm.

A change in the Golden Lions backline sees Sampie Mastriet start at wing, shifting Ruan Combrinck out to fullback while Jaco van der Walt misses out and moves to the bench.

Golden Lions: 15 Ruan Combrinck, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 Nicolaas Hanekom, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ross Cronje (captain), 8 Fabian Booysen, 7 Stephan de Wit, 6 Albertus Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Martin Muller, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Julian Redelinghuys, 18 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 19 Jano Venter, 20 Jaco van der Walt, 21 Alwyn Hollenbach, 22 Anthony Volmink.

Date: Friday, August 28

Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit

Kick-off: 19.00 (17.00 GMT)

Referee: Lesego Legoete

Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs, Jaco Kotze