Johan Ackermann has made four changes to the Golden Lions team for Saturday's Currie Cup encounter against the Sharks in Johannesburg.

The coach kept faith in the same backline that played against the Vodacom Blue Bulls last weekend, but swapped around half of the forwards.

In the back row, Kwagga Smith will start on the side of the scrum, with Stephan de Witt dropping to the bench. Lock Martin Muller falls out of the match 22 and Lourens Erasmus takes over at No 4. 

In a new-look front row, prop Julian Redelinghuys comes in for Jacques van Rooyen, with Ruan Dreyer shifting to loosehead to accommodate Redelinghuys at tighthead. Malcolm Marx gets the nod at hooker ahead of Robbie Coetzee.

After six rounds, the Lions are the only unbeaten team in the competition. 

Golden Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Fabian Booysen, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Jaco Kriel (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Lourens Erasmus, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Subs: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 MB Lusaseni, 19 Stephan de Witt, 20 Jaco van der Walt, 21 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 22 Anthony Volmink.

Photo: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images