Western Force will be without their powerful Wallabies No.8 Richard Brown for their must win Super 14 Rugby clash with the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday night.

Brown missed the round 11 match against the Lions in Perth with an ankle sprain before returning to action against the Bulls in Pretoria last Saturday.

However, he complained of a tender ankle again earlier this week and didn't recover in time for Saturday's match.

Tamaiti Horua has been listed to start at No.8 on Saturday, with Richard Stanford brought onto the bench.

Force coach John Mitchell hoped Brown would be fit for the final round fixture against the Highlanders in Perth on Saturday week.

"Hopefully he gets well soon, because it's just frustrating for him at the moment," Mitchell said.

He made one other change to the side which lost narrowly to the Bulls.

Lock Sam Wykes, who was a last withdrawal from the Bulls fixture with a shoulder problem regained his spot from Tom Hockings, who returned to the bench.

Winger Cameron Shepherd will undergo a final check at Friday's captain's run after pulling up sore with knee bruising following the Bulls game.

Mitchell reverts to a traditional 4-3 split on his bench after going with five forwards last week.

Prop Gareth Hardy drops off the bench, with halfback Chris O'Young lifted among this week's reserves.

The Force enter the penultimate round in ninth position, five behind the fourth placed Sharks.

Mitchell said the Force would be looking for a maximum haul of five points irrespective of all the other results earlier in the round.

Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus made three changes to his team.

Jo Pietersen comes in at fullback after Conrad Jantjes broke his leg, Gcobani Bobo returns at wing for Tonderai Chavhanga and flanker Peter Louw replacing Springbok Schalk Burger who has been rested after hurting his calf.

Force team:

Drew Mitchell, Scott Staniforth, Ryan Cross, James O'Connor, Cameron Shepherd, Matt Giteau, Josh Valentine, Tamaiti Horua, David Pocock, Matt Hodgson, Nathan Sharpe (captain), Sam Wykes, Ben Castle, Tai McIsaac, Pek Cowan. Reserves: Ben Whittaker, AJ Walley, Tom Hockings, Richard Stanford, Chris O'Young, Josh Tatupu, Haig Sare.

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