Cheetahs scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar will make his comeback from injury after being named on the bench for the team to face the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.

Pienaar has been sidelined since the second round of Super Rugby Unlocked last year, when he injured his knee against the Vodacom Bulls.

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The 36-year-old has been back in training, but will return as a substitute, with Tian Meyer named in the starting lineup to face the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium.

Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie has selected close to a full-strength lineup, with the likes of Clayton Blommetjies, Frans Steyn and Rosko Specman all retaining their places in the team.

There is  a debut for former Kings prop Schalk Ferreira, who has been named at loosehead in the front row alongside Wilmar Arnoldi and Aranos Coetzee.

Lock Rynier Bernardo will also make his second Cheetahs ‘debut’ after returning to the team from the Canon Eagles in Japan.

Cheetahs – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Chris Smit, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 George Cronje, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Rynier Bernardo, 4 Carl Wegner (c), 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Subs: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Conraad van Vuuren, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Victor Sekekete, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 Ruan Pienaar  22 Dries Swanepoel, 23 Rhyno Smith.

Photo: Gallo Images