Coach David Young has made four changes, one of them positional, in the Blues line-up to play Edinburgh Rugby in the Celtic Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
Number 8 Nathan Thomas returns to the pack while behind the scrum Ryan Powell starts at scrum-half, Lee Abdul plays on the wing, and the positional change sees Nick Walne moves into the centre in place of Matt Allen.
Young said:
Matts head injury requires him to see a specialist this week and this is the latest in a series of blows that has severely limited our selection options. We now have 14 of our original squad of 36 unavailable for one reason or another and this is obviously not a good position to be in.
But the fit players have trained hard again this week and we are determined to put on a better show against Edinburgh than we have done on our two recent visits to Scotland. Last season few people gave us a chance in the quarter-final at Meadowbank but the team rose to the occasion magnificently. That will be our aim again this time.
Better news on the injury front is that James Goode came through his comeback match for Cardiff in the Premier Division at Carmarthen Quins last week and will be among the replacements. So, too, will Darren Crompton after two games for the club team and he will be joined, subject to a fitness test, by international hooker Gareth Williams.
Team: Donavan van Vuuren; Lee Abdul, Nick Walne, Jamie Robinson, Craig Morgan; Nick Robinson, Ryan Powell; Kenneth Fourie, Andrew Lewis (capt), Ben Evans, Dan McShane, Jim Brownrigg, Rob Appleyard, Nathan Thomas, Dan Baugh
Replacements: Darren Crompton, Gareth Williams, James Goode, Robin Sowden-Taylor, James Malpas, Andrew Moore, Gareth McCarthy
Referee: Simon McDowell (Ireland)