The Stormers will be without the in-form Damian Willemse for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarter-final against Edinburgh in Cape Town on Saturday.

Willemse was left out of the Stormers’ matchday-23 after failing to make a satisfactory recovery from an arm injury suffered against Scarlets in Llanelli two weeks ago.

In his place, Rikus Pretorius starts at inside centre, himself having only recently recovered from injury.

MORE: Two SA teams in URC semis

The only other change to the starting lineup that faced Scarlets sees fit-again Herschel Jantjies return at scrumhalf.

There are a couple of further alterations to the bench as lock Adre Smith comes back into the squad, while 20-year-old utility back Sacha Mngomezulu could make his Stormers debut.

“A lot of hard work has gone into securing this home quarterfinal, so we are determined to rise to the occasion,” said Stormers coach John Dobson.

“We want to raise the intensity and make sure that we are at our best for the full 80 minutes, playing the kind of rugby that has got us into this position.”

The Stormers opted to take a conservative approach with Willemse’s injury based on Pretorius’ recovery.

“We gave Damian as much time as we could to make it for this match, but in the end it was not worth the risk, especially as we have a quality player in Rikus to start at 12,” Dobson added.

Stormers – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Steven Kitshoff (c).
Subs: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Sacha Mngomezulu.

Photo: EJ Langner/Gallo Images