There are five matches scheduled to take place on Saturday in the PRO14 with Munster versus Ulster and Connacht versus Leinster the pick of them.
Zebre v Ospreys
Zebre head coach Michael Bradley has made five alterations to his starting line-up, from the one which lost to the Dragons last week.
In the backline, Edoardo Padovani shifts from left wing to full-back, where he replaces Francois Brummer, while Gabriele Di Giulio will wear the number 11 jersey. Elsewhere, Tommaso Boni takes over from Giulio Bisegni at outside centre while Guglielmo Palazzani comes in at scrum-half in place of Marcello Violi.
In the forwards, Apisai Tauyavuca starts at lock in place of George Biagi which means that inside centre Tommaso Castello will captain the side.
Meanwhile, Ospreys have kept the faith with the same backline that helped them beat Benetton Rugby 27-10 but there are changes to the pack.
Ma’afu Fia comes in for Tom Botha at tighthead prop while Adam Beard replaces Alun Wyn Jones in the second-row as the Welsh international sits out this game.
“Three home wins have given us a platform to go into back to back away games that will offer totally different challenges to the group over the next eight days,” said Ospreys head coach Allen Clarke.
“We’ll continue to take it one game at a time, we’re not looking any further than that. Our focus is on ourselves, and ensuring we do the basics well. There’s confidence in the group but it’s a realistic and respectful confidence, not a misplaced one.”
The teams:
Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello (c), 11 Gabriele Di Giulio, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 5 Apisai Tauyavuca, 4 David Sisi, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Leonard Krumov, 20 Samuele Ortis, 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Giulio Bisegni
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 George North, 13 Joe Thomas, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Aled Davies, 8 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Adam Beard, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Ma’afu Fia, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Olly Cracknell, 20 Sam Cross, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 James Hook, 23 Cory Allen
Venue: Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi
Kick-off: 16:00 local (15:00 BST, 14:00 GMT)
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Eddie Hogan-O’Connell (Ireland), Vincenzo Schipani (Italy)
Television match official: Alan Falzone (Italy)
Connacht v Leinster
Dave Heffernan is set to captain Connacht as they host Leinster in their first interpro of the season in the Sportsground on Saturday.
Heffernan takes over the captaincy from Jarrad Butler who is ruled out through injury. Heffernan’s inclusion at hooker sees him continue as part of a front trio that includes props Denis Buckley and Finlay Bealham.
Butler’s replacement at openside Colby Fainga’a makes his first start for Connacht who, along with lock Ultan Dillane, are the only changes to the team that beat Scarlets last weekend. Fainga’a comes into a back-row alongside blindside Sean O’Brien and Robin Copeland at number eight.
In the second-row Dillane’s inclusion sees him form a familiar partnership with Quinn Roux.
Among the backs, Kieran Marmion and Jack Carty continue the half-back partnership, as do Bundee Aki and Tom Farrell in midfield.
Wingers Matt Healy and Cian Kelleher are also retained, as is Tiernan O’Halloran at full-back.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has kept faith with a lot of the players that played last weekend against Edinburgh in the RDS Arena but has welcomed back a number of players including Seán O’Brien onto the bench from injury.
Rob Kearney comes in at number 15 jersey with Jordan Larmour moving to the right wing from full-back as a result. James Lowe continues on the left wing.
Joe Tomane partners Garry Ringrose in the centre for the first time with Luke McGrath and captain Johnny Sexton.
Cian Healy, Seán Cronin and Tadhg Furlong are selected in the front-row.
Devin Toner moves into third on the all-time Leinster appearance list, together with Cullen, as he gets set to make his 221st appearance in blue. Toner and Cullen on 221 are behind Jamie Heaslip on 229 and Gordon D’Arcy on 261 caps for Leinster.
Australian international Scott Fardy joins Toner in the second-row.
Rhys Ruddock, Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan complete the starting XV.
The teams:
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Colby Fainga’a, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan (c), 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Peter McCabe, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 James Cannon, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Niyi Adeolokun
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Joe Tomane, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (c), 9 Luke McGrath, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 5 Scott Fardy, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Seán O’Brien, 21 Nick McCarthy, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Rory O’Loughlin
Venue: Sportsground
Kick-off: 17:15 BST (16:15 GMT)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Kieran Barry (Ireland)
Television match official: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Scarlets v Southern Kings
Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies returns to action this weekend after suffering a hamstring strain and will lead his side against the Kings.
Saturday’s clash will be Davies’ first outing in this season’s PRO14 having pulled out of the pre-match warm-up against Leinster in Round 2.
The British & Irish Lions centre will lead the side with club captain Ken Owens amongst a group of internationals rested this weekend.
A new-look all-international front-row will get a first start this season in Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias and Werner Kruger as head coach Wayne Pivac rotates the squad.
Jake Ball and David Bulbring combine in the second-row with Dan Davis coming in on the openside flank alongside Ed Kennedy and Blade Thomson in the back-row.
Scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne gets his second start of the season as he comes in to partner Rhys Patchell in the half-backs.
22-year-old Ioan Nicholas and Australian centre Paul Asquith come in for their first competitive starts of the season as they line up in the backline alongside the experienced Johnny McNicholl, Clayton Blommetjies and Davies.
Meanwhile, Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids has named an unchanged starting XV for Saturday.
Following an impressive 38-28 win over Glasgow Warriors at the Nelson Mandela University last week, Davids has opted to stick to the same starting line-up this week, making only three changes on the bench.
While the starting XV is unchanged, the Southern Kings have made three changes on the bench which will see the experienced Rossouw de Klerk as front-row back-up, Schalk Oelofse covering the second-row and a potential debut in the backline for new recruit Tristan Blewett.
The teams:
Scarlets: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Ioan Nicholas, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Ed Kennedy, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Phil Price, 18 Simon Gardiner, 19 Tom Price, 20 Uzair Cassiem, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Angus O’Brien, 23 Steff Evans
Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Harlon Klaasen, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Martin du Toit, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Andisa Ntsila, 6 Henry Brown, 5 JC Astle, 4 Bobby de Wee, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Replacements: 16 Alandre Van Rooyen, 17 Justin Forwood, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 Schalk Oelofse, 20 CJ Velleman, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa, 23 Tristan Blewett
Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Kick-off: 18:30 BST (17:30 GMT)
Referee: Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Mark Patton (Ireland), Simon Rees (Wales)
Television match official: Sean Brickell (Wales)
Munster v Ulster
There are eight changes to the Munster side beaten in Cardiff last week with Alby Mathewson making his debut at scrum-half as Keith Earls and Niall Scannell make their first starts of the season.
Having obtained a work permit in the standard timelines, Mathewson is named at scrum-half for his first Munster appearance.
Mike Haley, Dan Goggin, Earls, Mathewson, Dave Kilcoyne, Scannell, Billy Holland and Tommy O’Donnell all come into the side.
Haley starts at full-back with Andrew Conway and Earls on the wings.
Rory Scannell partners Goggin in the centres with fly-half Joey Carbery alongside Mathewson in the half-backs.
Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and Stephen Archer make up the front-row with Holland returning from injury to partner Tadhg Beirne in the second row.
Captain Peter O’Mahony, O’Donnell and CJ Stander complete the side.
Ulster prop Andrew Warwick will become the latest player to reach the 100 cap milestone in Saturday’s game.
27-year-old Warwick, who made his debut against Cardiff towards the tail end of the 2013/14 season, will start at loosehead prop, with fellow Ballymena RFC clubman Adam McBurney selected for his first start of the season beside him at hooker. Ross Kane completes the front-row.
Alan O’Connor will captain the side from the second-row, with Iain Henderson returning to partner him in the engine room.
In the k-row, flankers Matthew Rea and Nick Timoney are named at blindside and openside respectively, with Jean Deysel packing down at number eight.
John Cooney returns from the scalp laceration sustained in the win over Southern Kings a fortnight ago to join Billy Burns at half-back.
Angus Curtis will also earn his first start of the season, as he is given the nod to partner Darren Cave in midfield.
Wingers Angus Kernohan and Craig Gilroy join Peter Nelson in the back three as the full-back runs out for the 50th time in an Ulster jersey.
The teams:
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Dan Goggin, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Billy Holland, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 James Cronin, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Duncan Williams, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Sammy Arnold
Ulster: 15 Peter Nelson, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Angus Curtis, 11 Angus Kernohan, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Jean Deysel, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Alan O’Connor (c), 3 Ross Kane, 2 Adam McBurney, 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Clive Ross, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Michael Lowry, 23 James Hume
Venue: Thomond Park
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies (Wales), Nigel Correll (Ireland)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Glasgow Warriors v Dragons
Dave Rennie has made 11 changes to his starting XV as Glasgow Warriors welcome the Dragons to Scotsotun on Saturday.
Adam Hastings returns at fly-half, the 21-year-old has a 100 percent kicking record this season and has earned two man-of-the-match medals. He is joined at half-back by Ali Price.
Outside of them, Alex Dunbar starts at inside centre, partnering Huw Jones in midfield.
Neither Lee Jones or Niko Matawalu travelled to South Africa and they are both promoted to the starting XV for the first game back on home soil. They join Ruaridh Jackson in the back-three.
Up front Oli Kebble will look to continue his dominant start to the season at loosehead. Fraser Brown also comes in alongside join D’Arcy Rae to complete the front-row.
Rob Harley and Jonny Gray both return to the engine room, while behind them are co-captains Ryan Wilson and Callum Gibbins, either side of Matt Fagerson who is starting his first game of the season.
Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman makes a total of seven changes to his starting line-up with Sage and Knoyle the only changes in the back line.
A new-look pack features two changes in the front-row with hooker Richard Hibbard – who will captain the team – and prop Ryan Bevington returning to the side.
Samoa international Brandon Nansen will partner Rynard Landman in the second-row.
Lewis Evans returns at number eight while Nic Cudd will start the game at openside flanker.
Lock Huw Taylor, back-row James Thomas and utility back Will Talbot-Davies are rewarded for their form in the Celtic Cup competition with places on the replacements bench.
The teams:
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Niko Matawalu, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (cc), 6 Ryan Wilson (cc), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Rob Harley, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 George Horne, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Nick Grigg
Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Dafydd Howells, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Jarryd Sage, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Lewis Evans, 7 Nic Cudd, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Brandon Nansen, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Richard Hibbard (c), 1 Ryan Bevington
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Huw Taylor, 20 James Thomas, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Will Talbot-Davies
Venue: Scotstoun
Kick-off: 19:35 BST (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Dunx McClement (Scotland)
Television match official: Neil Paterson (Scotland)