Little-known openside flanker James Lentjes looms as a surprise package for the Stormers when they play the Highlanders in their Super Rugby match.

Lentjes, 24, who impressed in his debut season for Otago last year, has been given the Highlanders’ No.7 jersey after long-term injuries to Shane Christie and John Hardie.

Head coach Jamie Joseph had the option of playing Elliot Dixon, Dan Pryor or Gareth Evans on the openside at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday, but he has opted for a specialist in the position.

“James is a specialist seven, he was part of our pre-season and he knows our systems,” Joseph said.

“He’s a player of the future for us and he gets the opportunity to play against a very physical Stormers side.

“He’s physical, he’s fresh, he doesn’t have a national reputation and nobody really knows about him. He’s a good defender, he’s good at the breakdown and the Stormers are going to come pretty hard at us in that area.”

Joseph said another factor in Lentjes’ selection was Christie and Hardie were “touch and go” for the Highlanders’ tour of South Africa and Australia, which starts with a match against the Lions in Johannesburg on May 10.

The Stormers lead the South African conference with four wins and 18 points from five matches.

The Highlanders have 15 points from three wins and two losses, and Joseph is desperate for another win with the bye scheduled for next week.

“The challenge this week is different to what we’ve had previously this season,” he said.

“It’s our first game against a South African team and we’re going to have to match their physicality. There are things they do that we can pretty much predict – they’re going to maul hard and test us at scrummaging.

“But we know it’s going to be a dry track under the roof so we want to play some exciting rugby ourselves. We’re going to need lower body positions than them and to be more accurate than we were last week against the Hurricanes.”

The backline is again unchanged and, while Joseph said it was hard on the fringe players, it was a reflection the backs had performed above expectation.