Cape Town - It has been a long road to the top for Bulls flyhalf Tony Jantjies, but he finally made his Super Rugby debut in last weekend's clash against the Highlanders at Loftus.
Tony replaced Tian Schoeman on 55 minutes, and while he couldn't stop his side from going down 17-10 on the day, he did enough to spark the Bulls into life and impress coach Nollis Marais.
The result is that he keeps his place on the bench for this weekend's clash against the Lions at Ellis Park, while Francois Brummer returns from injury to take Schoeman's place.
Elton Jantjies, meanwhile, keeps his place in the Lions side meaning that, if Marais makes a change at flyhalf before the Lions do then there will be a family affair as the two No 10s do battle.
Elton (26) has long been a performer at the highest level and is the favourite to start at flyhalf for the Springboks in their June Tests against France, but Tony's (25) journey has been a lot tougher.
Identified as a major talent from a young age, he was a part of the Bulls youth structures when he left school and was considered to have a bright future at the franchise, having played in back-to-back Craven Weeks in 2009 and 2010.
Tony was also a part of the SA U-20 squad that won the Junior World Championship in 2012, though Handre Pollard was the first-choice flyhalf.
Having joined the Kings in 2015, Tony was then released from his contract due to a "breach in protocol".
Given a life-line by the Bulls last year, he has spent the past season-and-a-half working on his game and looking to put in the hard yards.
With Pollard out injured and Schoeman in poor form, he now has an opportunity to take his chance and show that he, like his brother Elton, belongs on the highest stage.
Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:15.
Teams:
Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Ruan Ackermann, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Substitutes: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Jacques Nel, 23 Anthony Volmink
Bulls
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Jade Stighling, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Substitutes: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Coenraad van Vuuren, 19 Abongile Nonkontwana, 20 Nic de Jager, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Tony Jantjies, 23 Warrick Gelant