Pienaar to lead Cheetahs against Sharks

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie has named his team for the Preparation match against Sharks on Wednesday.

The coach has made a couple of changes to the starting XV following their 34-33 win over the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium.

Ruan Pienaar will take the captain's armband when the side take to the field on Wednesday.

The Springbok, who made his return from injury against the Stormers off the bench, replaces Tian Meyer.

Malcolm Jaer and Dries Swanepoel are new to the starting line-up, with Jaer replacing Duncan Saal while Swanepoel takes the place of Chris Smith at centre.

In the pack, Aidon Davis will be replacing the injured Jeandre Rudolph at No.8

While Khutha Mchunu gets a start with Aranos Coetzee moving to the bench and Cameron Dawson comes in for injured Schalk van der Merwe at loosehead prop.

On the bench, Conraad van Vuuren and Oupa Mohoje are new to the bench and Jean Droste and Brandon Thomson will be making their debut for the Cheetahs when they set foot to field.

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Malcolm Jaer, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Ruan Pienaar (captain), 8 Aidon Davis, 7 George Cronje, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Cameron Dawson

Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Conraad van Vuuren, 18 Aranos Coetzee, 19 Jean Droste, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Chris Smit

Date: Wednesday, March 10

Time: 19.00 (17.00 GMT)

Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen

Assistant Referees: Griffin Colby & Jaco Kotze

TMO: Cwengile Jadezweni