Van der Merwe has successfully completed his injury recovery, from a head blow sustained in their home defeat in Kimberley against the Lions on 28 November, and returns to play in the No 6 jersey.

He comes back into the starting side and replaces CJ Velleman who is now set to come off the bench.

The return of the loose forward is one of several changes to the forward pack, where a changed front row of Andrew Beerwinkel, Alandre van Rooyen and John-Roy Jenkins will start the match.

Their Round Four away match against the Bulls was cancelled because of Covid-19 measures, while their previous outing was a 22-17 loss to the Pumas in Nelspruit on 4 December.

Skipper Zak Burger and his team-mates are set to have their captain's run on Christmas morning before boarding a flight to Cape Town later in the day.

The winless Kimberley outfit has come very close to victory in their previous matches and they will be determined to deliver a good performance against Siya Kolisi and his WP side on their home turf.

Play on Saturday starts at 16:30.

Teams:

Western Province

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 David Meihuizen, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Ruhan Nel, 23 Tristan Leyds, 24 Ernst van Rhyn, 25 Chris Schreuder, 26 Leolin Zas.

Griquas

15 James Verity-Amm, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Andre Swarts, 11 Enver Brandt, 10  Tinus de Beer, 9 Zak Burger (captain), 8  Johan Momsen, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5  Cameron Lindsay, 4 Adre Smith, 3 John-Roy Jenkinson, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel

Substitutes: 16 HJ Luus, 17 Mox Mxoli, 18 Tijde Visser, 19 Ewan Coetzee, 20 Siba Qoma, 21 CJ Velleman, 22 Ashlon Davids, 23 Daniel Kasende, 24 Bandisa Ndlovu, 25 Raegan Oranje