Lions coach John Mitchell has made a couple of key changes to his tight five for their crunch Super Rugby clash with the Sharks in Durban this weekend.

With both JC Janse van Rensburg and CJ van der Linde ruled out through injury Mitchell has shifted Pat Cilliers across to loosehead prop as Jacobie Adriaanse gets a chance to impress at tighthead with young Caylib Oosthuizen providing cover from the bench.

The quest to find an adequate replacement for the injured Wikus van Heerden continues with former Pumas hardman Marius Coetzer getting his chance to show that he is the man to wear the No.4 jersey after Hendrik Roodt and Stephan Greef failed to impress in the first two games of the season.

Greeff drops to the bench where he joins inside centre Alwyn Hollenbach who makes way for Springbok veteran Butch James who will bring his unique mix of uncompromising physicality and playmaking skills to the Lions midfield.

The Lions will be keen to bounce back from their last-gasp defeat at home to the Hurricanes last week but they will be up against a desperate Sharks team who will be determined to record their first win of the season in what is their first game at home.

Lions: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Doppies la Grange, 12 Butch James, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Joshua Strauss (captain), 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Marius Coetzer, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Patric Cilliers. 
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Stephan Greeff, 19 Cobus Grobbelaar, 20 Tian Meyer, 21 Alwyn Hollenbach, 22 James Kamana.

Date: Saturday, March 10
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 17.05 (15.05 GMT)
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa) 
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman (South Africa), Marc van Zyl (South Africa)
TMO:  Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)