Johannesburg - Lions boss Johan Ackermann has decided to leave Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk on his replacements' bench for Saturday's Currie Cup semi-final against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
De Klerk will have to wait for his chance to impress after Ross Cronje was preferred to the Bok No 9.
But, other returning Springboks, Julian Redelinghuys and Malcolm Marx, are in the starting team for the match that kicks off at 3pm.
The Lions' other big-name stars who performed so well in Super Rugby - Franco Mostert, Jaco Kriel, Warren Whiteley, Elton Jantjies and Lionel Mapoe - have all headed to Japan to play club rugby. They will return for Super Rugby next season.
And, wing Ruan Combrinck, who made his debut against Ireland in June and then picked up an injury, has not recovered in time to be considered for the match.
"The Boks coming back bring leadership and experience to the team and they've just come off a high level of rugby which will hopefully benefit the team," said Lions boss Ackermann.
"The good thing is Malcolm has been part of this set-up for a while now (after being released by the Boks two weeks ago), while Julian did a lot of rehabilitation work with us when he was injured and his comeback game was also for the Lions so the returning Boks are not likely to unsettle the team.
"And Faf will hopefully add some spark and energy from off the bench. We opted to start with Ross because he's gotten used to playing with Jaco van der Walt and the two of them trained there last week already."
The rest of the Lions team is pretty much as expected, but there will now be eight replacements allowed on the bench and not the customary seven for the Currie Cup. It means all the teams playing in the semi-finals and final will be allowed to pick a full front row with two props.
The other semi-final, at 6pm on Saturday, sees the Blue Bulls hosting Western Province.
Lions squad
Andries Coetzee, Koch Marx, Jacques Nel, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Anthony Volmink, Jaco van der Walt, Ross Cronje, Fabian Booysen, Cyle Brink, Kwagga Smith, Bobby de Wee, Ruan Ackermann, Julian Redelinghuys, Malcolm Marx, Jacques van Rooyen.
Replacements
Akker van der Merwe, Corne Fourie, Ruan Dreyer, Lourens Erasmus, Ruaan Lerm, Faf de Klerk, Stokkies Hanekom, Sylvian Mahuza