The captain against Maties will be William Small-Smith, the first choice outside center. He has a cool head and proven leadership abilities.

All the changes to the starting lineup were necessitated by injuries. Sabelo Nhlapo (prop) is suffering from a knee and hamstring injury and was replaced by Juan Schoeman, who benched against Shimlas.

Another substitute who got promotion, is flanker Jacques Verwey. He replaces Liebenberg, who has a quadriceps strain. Verwey played off the bench in UP-Tuks’ last two games.

The third change is at lock where the stalwart Mike Williams is replaced by Paul Willemse. It will be Willemse's Varsity Cup debut. Last year he was in the SA u.20 team that beat the Baby Blacks 22-16 in the final of the IRB Junior World Cup Tournament.

Even though Liebenberg and Williams' injuries are setbacks, Verwey is one of the most experienced Varsity Cup players in the team. Against Maties he will in fact play in his 49th game for UP-Tuks. Willemse's virtues are well known and UP-Tuks coach Nollis Marais has no doubt that this 20-year-old giant (2 m, 127 kg) will stand his ground.

Basil Short makes a long awaited return (all be it on the bench), which is very good news in the light of the ankle injury that will keep Christoph Gouws sidelined for a while. Short has not played Varsity Cup this season due to a shoulder injury.

The team is:

15 Clayton Blommetjies; 14 Riaan Britz, 13 William Small-Smith ©; 12 Christopher Bosch; 11 Courtnall Skosan; 10 Tian Schoeman; 9 Lohan Jacobs; 8 Jean Cook, 7 Jacques Verwey, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Paul Willemse , 3 Hencus Ward 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Basil Short, 18 Schalk van Heerden, 19 Wesley Kotze, 20 Clayton Stewart, 21 Handré Pollard, 22 Piet Lindeque, 23 Andrew Beerwinkel.