The Emirates Airline Park encounter starts at 16h30 and will be televised live on the SuperSport Grandstand and Rugby channels.

Pienaar, the experienced former Springbok No 9, sustained a serious knee injury in the previous round.

Pokomela, a former Junior Springbok, took over the captaincy last weekend after Pienaar limped off early in their win over the Vodacom Bulls, and will now lead the side in their first away match of the revamped season. 

Tian Meyer

With Meyer getting a deserved starting berth in the scrumhalf jersey - the only change to their run-on team - it means that USA international Ruben de Haas is now set to make his competition debut off the bench. De Haas represented the USA at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Last weekend, the team of Hawies Fourie (coach) battled their way to a close-fought 19-17 win over the Vodacom Bulls and as a result of their second successive win, the Toyota Cheetahs are the current the log leaders with nine points.

"It's going to be interesting to see how it feels playing away as I think the home ground advantage will be gone with no spectators allowed at games," said Fourie.

"We have a bus ride of five hours awaiting us and the big thing for us will be to get over the travel and focus on what we need to do."

Apart from Pienaar, several other players were not considered for selection due to injury - Wilmar Arnoldi (cheek bone), Reniel Hugo (knee), Aranos Coetzee (ankle), Rhyno Smith (quad), Duncan Saal (hamstring) and Dries Swanepoel (calf).

Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Malcolm Jaer, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Junior Pokomela (captain), 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Charles Marais. Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Erich de Jager, 19 JP du Preez, 20 Aidon Davis, 21 Chris Massyn, 22 Ruben de Haas, 23 William Small-Smith.

Match information - Emirates Lions vs Toyota Cheetahs
Date: Saturday, 24 October
Time: 16h30
Venue: Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant Referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron, Griffin Colby
Television Match Official: Willie Vos
TV: SuperSport Grandstand and Rugby