Nche gets No.1 jersey against Bulls

Cheetahs head coach Franco Smith has demoted Charles Marais to the bench, while Ryno Benjamin will replace Sergeal Petersen in the first XV.

Petersen will be absent due to a knee injury he sustained in the match against the Lions last week.

Ruan van Rensburg is new on the bench and will be making his Super Rugby debut when he runs onto the field.

"Our focus this week will be to keep the ball in hand and to get points on the board when we are in the attacking zone," said assistant coach, Corniel van Zyl.

"We left a lot of points on the field last week and we will be more clinical this week.

 "The Bulls also lost last week and we expect them to come here with everything they’ve got," said captain Torsten van Jaarsveld.

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Uzair Cassiem, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (captain), 1 Retshegofaditswe Nché.

Replacements: 16 Elandré Huggett, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Danie Mienie, 19 Francois Uys, 20 Niell Jordaan, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Niel Marais, 23 Ruan van Rensburg.

Date: Saturday, March 4

Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

Kick-off: 19.30 (17.30 GMT)

Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)

Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)