Wales fly-half Ioan Lloyd returns from injury for Cardiff’s Challenge Cup visit to Exeter on Sunday.
Lloyd has not played since the beginning of December when he injured a shoulder in the defeat against Stade Francais.
The 24-year-old is one of 10 changes from the side that defeated Racing 92 last weekend with lock Josh McNally back to captain the side.
McNally is one of six changes to the pack alongside open-side flanker Dan Thomas, blind-side flanker James Botham, loose-head prop Danny Southworth, hooker Evan Lloyd and tight-head prop Sam Wainwright with scrum-half Johan Mulder, centre Rory Jennings and wing Mason Grady also starting.
Wales Under-20s captain Tom Cottle is in line for his competitive debut from the replacements bench.
Exeter are captained by Wales lock Dafydd Jenkins and include Kane James at number eight.
The England Under-20s back rower qualifies for Wales and has been tipped for a place in Steve Tandy’s Six Nations squad. James was born in Pembrokeshire and grew up in Cardiff.
Cardiff have qualified for the knockout stages but can earn a last-16 home tie with a positive result at Exeter.
Ulster versus Stade Francais on Saturday will decide who finishes top of Pool Three and that result could potentially open up the runners-up spot before the fixture at Exeter, who are also already secure in the knockout stages.
Coach Corniel van Zyl knows what to expect against a team currently sitting third in the English league.
“They’ve had a positive season, they’ve become a difficult team to beat, like they used to be,” he said of Exeter.
“They’re good at the breakdown, have a a good set-piece and kicking game and they’ve got some dangerous backs that can score tries.
“It’s going to be a nice challenge but 100% something we look forward to, we’ll put our game on the pitch and see what happens.”
Exeter Chiefs: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Haydon-Wood, Brown-Bampoe; H Skinner, Varney; Sio, Dweba, Tchumbadze, Jenkins (capt), Zambonin, Hooper, E Roots, James.
Replacements: Heaven, Goodrick-Clarke, J Roots, Tuima, Pearson, Capstick, Chapman, Hammersley.
Cardiff: Beetham; Grady, Smit, Jennings, Bowen; I Lloyd, Mulder; Southworth, E Lloyd, S Wainwright, McNally (capt), Thornton, Botham, D Thomas, Basham.
Replacements: D Hughes, Domachowski, Assiratti, Nott, Lawrence, Cottle, I Davies, Winnett.
Referee: Griffin Colby (SA)
Assistants: Morne Ferreira (SA), Christopher Allison (SA)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SA)
