Action at Jonsson Kings Park in Durban starts at 19h00 and the match will be televised live on SuperSport.

Odendaal (centre) and Visagie (hooker) are former Vodacom Bulls players who made the switch across the Jukskei River from Pretoria to Johannesburg during the lockdown, while the versatile Viljoen, who can operate with equal efficiency in midfield, previously played for the DHL Stormers.

Maxwane (wing) also relocated to Johannesburg recently after making a name for himself as a try-scoring machine for the Toyota Cheetahs in the Guinness PRO14.

Wiehahn Herbst, who played for the Cell C Sharks and Vodacom Bulls earlier in his career, is another new recruit that is set to make his debut for the Pride of Jozi after he was named on the bench.

Former Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts has been named at lock, where he will partner Marvin Orie.

Emirates Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen named four players in the starting team who were in action in the Castle Lager Springbok Showdown in Cape Town last week.

Carlu Sadie, Orie, Vincent Tshituka and Elton Jantjies all played Green and Gold clash over the weekend in Cape Town, while four more Emirates Lions players who were involved in the match at DHL Newlands - Dylan Smith, Ruan Dreyer, Gianni Lombard and Wandisile Simelane - were included amongst the replacements for Friday evening’s visit to Durban.

Emirates Lions: 15 EW Viljoen, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Elton Jantjies (captain), 9 Dillon Smit; 8 Len Massyn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements (from): 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 MJ Pelser, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Morné van den Berg, 23 Gianni Lombard, 24 Wandisile Simelane, 25 Ruan Dreyer.