Hanru Sirgel will captain the side for the first time and has been named at flank after making his return from an Achilles tendon injury off the bench on Sunday.

The former captain, Niel Otto, moves to the bench for the game, while Cebo Dlamini starts at tighthead prop in place of Junior Banda.

The Griquas will go into the game with confidence following their outstanding win over the Sharks in Kimberley last week. Although they lost the final to the team from Nelspruit, they managed to win both their home and away games last season, and this has given them confidence as well.

The Griquas coach, Pieter Bergh, told OFM Sport that it’s important to play for 80 minutes.

"They are a team that is coached by Jimmy Stonehouse, and he won’t allow them to give up, so we know it’s going to be difficult," said Bergh.

"We also knew when we came to Nelspruit last year, we would be here two weeks before the final. We defeated them convincingly earlier in the Currie Cup in Kimberley.

"We know we can come here and beat them."We've shown that in the past, and this week we have a good plan in place and we've also got a very good team."

Friday evening’s game between last year’s finalists kicks off at 19:10 at the Mbombela Stadium.

Pumas - 15 Devon Williams, 14 Etienne Taljaard, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Lundi Msenge, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Giovan Snyman, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 6 André Fouché, 5 Shane Kirkwood (captain), 4 Deon Slabbert, 3 IG Prinsloo, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Corné Fourie.

Replacements - 16 Llewellyn Classen, 17 Etienne Janeke, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Malembe Mpofu, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Stefan Coetzee.

Griquas - 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Rosko Specman, 13 Jay-Cee Nel, 12 Zander du Plessis, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Carl Els, 7 Hanru Sirgel (captain), 6 Stephan Smith, 5 Albert Liebenberg, 4 Derik Pretorius, 3 Cebo Dlamini, 2 Gustav du Rand, 1 Kudzwai Dube.

Replacements - 16 Janco Uys, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Junior Banda, 19 Johan Retief, 20 Niel Otto, 21 Raegan Oranje, 22 George Whitehead, 23 Eddie Fouché.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport