Having sat out of their previous clash as a Covid-19-related precaution‚ Steven Kitshoff's return to the Stormers is one that will likely leave him with feverish excitement.

The loosehead prop will captain the Stormers in their Super Rugby Unlocked clash with the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday‚ a prospect he is likely to relish.

Kitshoff steps back into the cauldron‚ this time with the captain;s armband as a result of a hamstring injury that will preclude Siya Kolisi from participating this weekend.

Kolisi’s place on the side of the scrum is taken by Jaco Coetzee‚ while JD Schickerling starts at lock in the only other change to the pack.

Western Province U21s Marcel Theunissen (flank) and Angelo Davids (wing) are joined by Ben-Jason Dixon (flank) and Tristan Leyds (outside back) in a quartet of uncapped players on an extended list of replacements to travel up to the capital.

The historical significance of the clash is not lost on Stormers head coach John Dobson. “This match is one of the highlights on the South African rugby calendar‚ so we are looking forward to taking on that challenge this weekend.

“This is a great chance for the team to show our faithful supporters what it means to us to play for them‚ we know that we will have to be on our game to come away with the result on Saturday‚” he said.

The Stormers will seek improvement this week after they almost came a cropper against the Pumas in Nelspruit last week. Although they showed commendable resilience to score four late tries to snatch victory‚ they will need a more even spread of effort across the 80 minutes at Loftus.

After a sluggish start to their campaign the Bulls looked like a side moving in the right direction in their victory over the Sharks last weekend.

A win over the Stormers will put them firmly back in the frame.

Stormers to play the Bulls - Warrick Gelant; Edwill van der Merwe‚ Dan du Plessis‚ Rikus Pretorius‚ Leolin Zas; Damian Willemse‚ Herschel Jantjies; Juarno Augustus‚ Ernst van Rhyn‚ Jaco Coetzee; JD Schickerling‚ Salmaan Moerat; Frans Malherbe‚ Bongi Mbonambi‚ Steven Kitshoff (captain).

Substitutes (from): Scarra Ntubeni‚ Leon Lyons‚ Neethling Fouche‚ Chris van Zyl‚ David Meihuizen‚ Marcel Theunissen‚ Ben-Jason Dixon; Godlen Masimla‚ Tim Swiel‚ Angelo Davids‚ Tristan Leyds.