Dunedin - The Highlanders have benched veteran scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan for their Vodacom Super Rugby clash against the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday.

Kick-off is at 11:40.

Cowan, who has started all of the Highlanders matches this season, is replaced by Manawatu's Aaron Smith.

Smith, a New Zealand Maori representative, will make his first start for the Highlanders in the only change to the starting XV.

The only other change to the matchday 22 sees Brayden Mitchell replace Mo Schwalger as cover at hooker.

Teams:

Rebels:
15 Richard Kingi, 14 Lachlan Mitchell, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Nick Phipps, 8. Gareth Delve, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Jarrod Saffy, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Rodney Blake

Substitutes: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Laurie Weeks, 18 Adam Byrnes, 19 Tim Davidson, 20 Hoani Macdonald, 21 Luke Rooney, 22 Afusipa Taumoepeau

Highlanders:
15 Ben Smith, 14 Kade Poki, 13 Kendrick Lynn, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Siale Piutau, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Alando Soakai, 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Josh Bekhuis, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Chris King, 2 Jason Rutledge, 1 Jamie Mackintosh (captain)

Substitutes: 16 Brayden Mitchell, 17 David Te Moana, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Nick Crosswell, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Robbie Robinson, 22 James Paterson