Victor Matfield will start in the second row for the Vodacom Bulls against the Lions at Loftus on Saturday.
The 37-year-old, who last captained the Bulls in the opening round of the competition, returns following successful knee surgery that kept him out of action for a month.
In other changes, Jan Serfontein comes in for Burger Odendaal at inside centre, Arno Botha starts at No 8 in place of Pierre Spies, Lappies Labuschagne gets the nod ahead of Deon Stegmann and Trevor Nyakane replaces Dean Greyling at loosehead prop.
Spies and Stegmann are being rested, while Greyling suffered minor injuries in a car accident.
Prop Andrew Beerwinkel could make his Super Rugby debut off the bench.
Bulls – 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Lappies Labuschagne, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Subs: 16 Callie Visagie, 16 Morné Mellett, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Pierre Spies, 20 Tian Schoeman, 21 Burger Odendaal, 22 Jurgen Visser.
Photo: Anne Laing/HSM Images
