Western Force Coach John Mitchell has reshaped his side ahead of a clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday with nine positional changes, including a refreshed front row, as the battle for places heats up.
Experienced campaigner Nick Henderson returns to loosehead prop, Tim Fairbrother, back in the squad after overcoming an ankle injury, will play at tighthead, while Nathan Charles earns his second start at hooker.
Tom Hockings is set to partner Nathan Sharpe at lock in a further shake-up to the tight-five however the back row retains a familiar look with Matt Hodgson, David Pocock and Richard Brown continuing their outstanding partnership.
Justin Turner, who was this week selected in the Australian U20's team to play in the IRB Junior World Cup in Argentina, will start his first match of the season at scrumhalf while Cameron Shepherd, wing, and James O"Connor, fullback, have also been included.
"We planned before we came away that everyone who was on the tour would be contributing," Mitchell said.
"We wanted to give everyone a run and apart from the injury to Scott Staniforth (neck) everything is going to plan. There is real competition for places which is a healthy position for us to be in.
"It"s our second week in Africa and there are players in our group that are pretty excited to get started. The boys know what it is like now to build momentum and it's just a matter of going in there (against the Cheetahs) and doing it again."
The Force has show terrific form in the latter part of the season, winning four of their last five matches.
Victories against the Crusaders and Lions in the past fortnight have set-up an opportunity to secure three consecutive wins, a feat achieved only once before in club history.
The West Australian's have an impressive record against the Cheetahs, winning all four clashes between the sides, but know they"ll face a tough challenge on Saturday night.
"While neither side can make the finals this season we probably have very similar motivation in the fact that we want to perform well and finish off the season well," Mitchell said.
"Both sides are coming into this match in good form. It's a great crowd, a great stadium and they (Cheetahs) take a lot of pride in their football, so our guys are really excited by this challenge.
Prop Matt Dunning has been named as a reserve and, should he see game time, will bring up his 100th Super Rugby match after playing 90 with the Waratahs before joining the Western Force this season.
Western Force Squad
1 Nick Henderson,2 Nathan Charles,3 Tim Fairbrother,4 Tom Hockings,5 Nathan Sharpe,6 Matt Hodgson,7 David Pocock,8 Richard Brown,9 Justin Turner,10 David Hill,11 Cameron Shepherd,12 Ryan Cross,13 Mitch Inman,14 Nick Cummins,15 James O'Connor
Reserves:16 Ben Whittaker (FR),17 Matt Dunning (FR),18 Sam Wykes,19 Ben McCalman,20 Chris O'Young,21 Sam Harris,22 Mark Bartholomeusz
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