Human tweaks Griquas for Lions

The return of star loose forward Marnus Schoeman is one of four changes to the Griquas team for their Currie Cup crunch encounter with the Golden Lions on Friday.

Griquas coach Pote Human wasted no time in drafting Schoeman back into the starting XV, after the player's recovery from injury.

Schoeman will start at No.6, with Wesley Wilkins moving to the other flank and Justin Downey dropping down to the bench.

The injury that ruled out replacement prop Janro van Niekerk means the bench now feature a more conventional hooker, prop, loose forward and lock as cover - after Van Niekerk and Ivann Espag both sat on the bench last week. Espag is the replacement prop this week.

The backline changes have Jean Stemmet starting ahead of Stefan Watermeyer at outside centre and Marnus Hugo at scrumhalf ahead of Jacques Coetzee.

Griquas: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jannie Boshoff, 13 Jean Stemmet, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Leon Karemaker, 7 Wesley Wilkins, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Rynhardt Landman, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes (captain), 1 Steph Roberts.

Replacements: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Ivann Espag, 18 Frikkie Spies, 19 Justin Downey, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Marnitz Boshoff, 22 Matthew Rosslee.

Date: Friday, August 31

Venue: Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg

Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)

Referee: Craig Joubert

Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge, Stefan Breytenbach

TMO: Shaun Veldsman