Venter back for overhauled Cheetahs

Cheetahs centre Francois Venter will be making his return after an ankle injury kept him sidelined for the first four games of Super Rugby. 

He will be leading the Cheetahs in their match against the Sharks at Toyota Stadium.

Otherwise the Cheetahs have made a few changes to the team from last week’s loss to the Jaguares. Tshego Nche will slot in at prop once again with Johan Coetzee taking up the three jersey and Torsten van Jaarsveld captaining the side from hooker.

Justin Basson will join up with Francois Uys in the second–row pairing. Paul Schoeman joins the back row once again in the six jersey with Henco Venter play at number eight.

In the backline Raymond Rhule and Sergeal Petersen come back into the winger roles and Venter will partner Nico Lee in the centres. The half-back pairing of Shaun Venter and Fred Zeilinga moves from the bench to the starting line-up.

Tom Botha, Tian Meyer, Niel Marais and Ryno Benjamin/Clinton Swart move the bench.

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 Nico Lee, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Tshego Nche
Replacements: 16 Elandré Huggett, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Niell Jordaan, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Niel Marais, 23 Ryno Benjamin/Clinton Swart

Date: Saturday, March 25
Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Kick-off: 17:15 local (15:15 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Jaco van Heerden (South Africa), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)