Exeter Chiefs have made one change to their starting line-up for their Heineken Champions Cup pool match against the Bulls in Pretoria tomorrow (5.30pm kick-off).

Jack Innard replaces England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who was forced off during last weekend’s Gallagher Premiership win over Northampton Saints with an ankle injury that is due to undergo surgery and will see him sidelined for an unspecified period of time.

England centre Henry Slade takes over the captaincy from Cowan-Dickie, while on the bench, South African Jannes Kirsten is fit again to return for the first time in months to face his former club.

The Chiefs will be coming up against a very different side to the one they beat 44-14 at Sandy Park in December to give them a maximum 10 points from their opening two pool games.

Not only will the Chiefs be facing South Africa’s most successful club side on their own turf, but summer heat and playing at altitude will just add to the things the Chiefs will need to process on the night.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter, though, has been encouraged by what he has seen from his players this week. Despite the scorching overhead heat, the squad have not been afraid to test their limits, pushing themselves hard enough to ensure they are in prime condition come kick-off.

“Playing at 7:30pm over here, the temperature will be a lot cooler than what we’ve experienced at other times of the day,” explained Baxter.

“Equally, we’ve been here a week now and again we’ve acclimatised to the conditions pretty well. For us, the focus is on coming over here and building on what has been a very strong start to our Heineken Champions Cup campaign.

“We’ve had two fantastic results against Castres away (27-12) and then the Bulls at home, but now we have to build on that this weekend. It will be tough, there is no doubt about that, and we’re expecting a much different Bulls side that came to us last month.

"That was a pretty mixed squad they sent, but this will be pretty much full-on.

“For our lads, it’s a fantastic opportunity to create something special again. We’ve talked all week about what we will need to do, how strong we will need to be, plus the fight we will need to show. Getting a result would be fantastic, but equally anything positive we can take from the game will be very important.

"We’ve seen in the past that if you pick up bonus points, they can really mean something later in the competition.

“That means having that focus across the whole 80 minutes has to be there. If we do, it will give us the best footing into the game, and then we can start later and really impose ourselves on the Bulls."

Skipper Ruan Nortje will lead a strong Bulls forwards pack as Gerard Steenekamp, Johann Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith line up in the front row with Ruan Vermaak alongside his captain in the second row.

Nizaam Carr starts at openside flank with Marco van Staden at blindside, both anchored by Elrigh Louw at 8. Zak Burger and Chris Smith will lace up and control the game as half-backs whilst the David Kriel (left) and Canan Moodie (right) start at wing with Harold Vorster (inside) and Wandisile Simelane (outside) linking up as the centre pairing with Kurt-Lee Arendse at full-back.

The Bulls boasts an experienced and influential replacements' bench with the likes of Bismarck Du Plessis, Dylan Smith, Johan Goosen and Lionel Mapoe; all lining up alongside bright young stars Francois Klopper, Janko Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp and Embrose Papier.

Bulls' forwards coach Russell Winter commented: "We are playing one of the top clubs in a top premium franchise competition, so the intensity will be higher and we are going to have to match it and improve our intensity if we want to make that we get the win.

"We have to be up for it physically, mentally and on our game, they might find some cracks; but if we do what we train, then we will be okay.

"We know they (Exeter) are a very good side, we know that they are well coached and we know that in the game that we played against them, they really put in a big scrum and mauling performance. We know their pack of forwards is a really good set of forwards, they really play and play expansive rugby as well if they want to."

Vodacom Bulls: 1. Gerard Steenekamp, 2. Johann Grobbelaar, 3. Mornay Smith, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 5. Ruan Nortje (cape), 6. Marco van Staden, 7. Nizaam Carr, 8. Elrigh Louw, 9. Zak Burger, 10. Chris Smith, 11. David Kriel, 12. Harold Vorster, 13. Wandisile Simelane, 14. Canan Moodie, 15. Kurt-Lee Arendse. Replacements: 16. Dylan Smith, 17. Bismarck Du Plessis, 18. Francois Klopper, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. WJ Steenkamp, 21. Embrose Papier, 22. Johan Goosen, 23. Lionel Mapoe

Exeter: J Hodge, J Nowell, H Slade (cape), S Kata, O Woodburn, J Simmonds, S Maunder, S Sio, J Innard, H Williams, J Dunne, D Jenkins, D Ewers, C Tshiunza, S Simmonds. Replacements: J Yeandle, J Kenny, J Iosefa-Scott, J Kirsten, G Fisilau, J Maunder, H Skinner, R O'Loughlin.

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France).