PRO14 Preview: Saturday

Editor

There's four games on the PRO14 schedule on Saturday with Munster taking on the Scarlets at Thomond Park the pick of the matches.

Kings vs Benetton

Southern Kings head coach Deon Davids is boosted by the return of Kurt Coleman and Godlen Masimla for their game against Benetton Rugby.

The half-back duo return along with two injury enforced replacements in the only changes made to the run-on XV that secured the franchise’s maiden victory in the championship last time out against the Dragons.

Martin Du Toit and Rowan Gouws move to the bench in order to accommodate Coleman and Masimla and, in the only other change to the backline, veteran Alshaun Bock takes over from the injured Anthony Volmink on the wing.

The single change made to the forward pack is injury enforced too – hooker and captain Michael Willemse damaged the medial ligament in his left knee during the match against the Dragons and, according to team doctor Lizanne Pieterse, is expected to be out of action for as long as eight weeks. His place in the starting XV is taken by Stephan Coetzee with Tango Balekile included as replacement hooker on the bench. 

Other changes amongst the replacements see Lubabalo Mtyanda and Lusando Badiyana selected in place of Lindokuhle Welemu and Dries Van Schalkwyk.

Meanwhile, there are seven alterations to the Benetton XV that played last weekend against Cardiff Blues.

Full-back will be Jayden Hayward while on the wings Luca Sperandio and Monty Ioane start, Tommaso Iannone and Alberto Sgarbi will be the centres.

The half-backs are Tito Tebaldi at scrum-half and Marty Banks at fly-half.

Up front Benetton start props Federico Zani and Matteo Zanusso either side of hooker Tomas Baravalle, with the locks Federico Ruzza and Irné Herbst.

Finally, the back-row sees Marco Barbini, Abraham Steyn and Robert Barbieri completing the XV chosen by head coach Kieran Crowley.

The teams:

Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Alshaun Bock, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Andisa Ntsila, 5 Bobby De Wee, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Schalk Ferreira (c)
Replacements: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Johan Smith, 18 Luvuyo Pupuma, 19 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 20 Lusanda Badiyana, 21 Rowan Gouws, 22 Martin Du Toit, 23 Jacques Nel

Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Luca Sperandio, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Marty Banks, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Marco Barbini, 5 Irné Herbst, 4 Federico Ruzza, 3 Matteo Zanusso, 2 Tomas Baravalle, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Nasi Manu, 21 Ignacio Brex, 22 Michael Tagicakibau, 23 Andrea Bronzini

Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
Kick-off: 15:00 local (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa), Rodney Boneparte (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Cardiff Blues vs Ulster

Cardiff Blues have made seven changes for their PRO14 clash with Ulster – the last regular season fixture at the Arms Park in the campaign.

With the race for the play-offs intensifying both sides will be desperate to keep on track as they chase third place in their respective conferences.

Danny Wilson's side are targeting a fifth straight win in the competition and have been boosted by the availability of their Wales contingent.

In total there are nine internationals in the starting XV and four more on the bench.

In the pack Matthew Rees and Scott Andrews come into the front-row, while Seb Davies joins George Earle in the second-row. Josh Turnbull moves into the back-row and Ellis Jenkins steps up from the bench.

At half-back Tomos Williams has overcome a knock to partner Jarrod Evans, while Willis Halaholo and Rey Lee-Lo combine in the centre. One further change sees USA captain Blaine Scully replace Aled Summerhill.

For Ulster, Grand Slam stars Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale will return to provincial action this Saturday after being named in the team.

Stockdale, who was on Friday named as Six Nations Player of the Championship, having scored seven tries in five outings, will start on the left wing, with Henderson selected in the back-row.

There are four other new faces in the starting team from the last match versus Scarlets a month ago, with Rob Herring, Clive Ross, Craig Gilroy and Charles Piutau also included.

Herring will start at hooker in place of John Andrew, while props Andrew Warwick and Wiehahn Herbst will continue on either side of the front-row.

The second-row pairing of Kieran Treadwell and Alan O'Connor is unchanged, with the latter set to lead the side for a fourth consecutive match.

Henderson and Ross will be joined in the back-row by number eight Nick Timoney.

The half-back partnership of John Cooney and Johnny McPhillips remains in situ, as does the midfield combination of Stuart McCloskey and Luke Marshall.

Gilroy, Stockdale and Piutau will make up a potent back three.

Matthew Dalton, who has featured prominently for Ireland U20s in recent weeks, is named on the bench alongside fellow forwards John Andrew, Callum Black, Ross Kane and Matthew Rea.

Dave Shanahan, Peter Nelson and Louis Ludik provide backline options.

The teams:

Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Blaine Scully, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Owen Lane, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Ellis Jenkins, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Seb Davies, 4 George Earle, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins (c)
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Ben Murphy, 20 Macauley Cook, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Steve Shingler, 23 Garyn Smith

Ulster: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny McPhillips, 9 John Cooney, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Clive Ross, 6 Iain Henderson, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O'Connor (c), 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Warwick
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Callum Black, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Matthew Dalton, 20 Matthew Rea, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Peter Nelson, 23 Louis Ludik

Venue: Cardiff Arms Park
Kick-off: 15:15 GMT
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Sam Grove-White (Scotland), Dunx McClement (Scotland)
TMO: Andrew Cymene (Scotland)

Munster vs Scarlets

There are six changes to the Munster side beaten by Edinburgh last weekend as Academy player Calvin Nash, Ian Keatley, Dave Kilcoyne, Rhys Marshall, John Ryan and Tommy O’Donnell all come into the team.

JJ Hanrahan moves to full-back with Nash and Alex Wootton on either flank. Rory Scannell and Sammy Arnold continue their centre partnership with James Hart joined in the half-backs by Keatley.

There are four changes in the pack with a new front-row of Kilcoyne, Marshall and Ryan.

Captain Billy Holland and Jean Kleyn keep their places in the second-row with O’Donnell joining Jack O’Donoghue and Robin Copeland in the back-row.

Niall Scannell, James Cronin and Stephen Archer make up the front-row cover with Gerbrandt Grobler and Dave O’Callaghan completing the forward replacements.

Stephen Fitzgerald and Dan Goggin provide the backline reinforcements along with Academy scrum-half Jack Stafford, who is set to make his home debut in the PRO14 having featured off the bench against Zebre earlier this season.

Meanwhile, loose forward Tadhg Beirne will make his 50th appearance for the Scarlets on Saturday.

Both teams are positioned in second place in their respective Conferences. Scarlets will be keen to secure a solid performance and result in order to keep the pressure on Conference B leaders Leinster, only three points ahead with only four games of the regular season remaining.

Following the conclusion of the Six Nations campaign Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac has included a number of international faces in the starting XV with Wales centre Scott Williams named as captain for the PRO14 clash.

Steff Evans, Rhys Patchell and Aled Davies also return to the backline alongside Paul Asquith, Tom Varndell and Tom Williams.

Ryan Elias, Samson Lee, Aaron Shingler and James Davies return from Wales camp for the clash with Dylan Evans, Beirne and Will Boyde completing the set.

The teams:

Munster: 15 JJ Hanrahan, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 James Hart, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Tommy O’Donnell, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Billy Holland (c), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 John Ryan, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 James Cronin, 18 Stephen Archer, 19 Gerbrandt Grobler, 20 Dave O’Callaghan, 21 Jack Stafford, 22 Stephen Fitzgerald, 23 Dan Goggin

Scarlets: 15 Tom Williams, 14 Tom Varndell, 13 Scott Williams (c), 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Will Boyde, 7 James Davies, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Dylan Evans
Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Phil Price, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 Josh Macleod, 21 Jonathan Evans, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Steff Hughes

Venue: Thomond Park
Kick-off: 17:30 GMT
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi, Manuel Bottino (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)

Ospreys vs Leinster

Ospreys have named Dan Biggar, Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones in their starting XV as they welcome Leinster to the Liberty Stadium.

Jones captains the side while Biggar is alongside Tom Habberfield in the half-backs and Tipuric starts on the openside for his region.

Interim Head Coach, Allen Clarke, said: "It’s been a month without any game time so everybody is really looking forward to Saturday night.

"We’ve been able to welcome back quality and experience into the group this week and we’re in a good place as far as preparation is concerned. It says a lot about our environment that players are making themselves available straight off the back of a busy Six Nations campaign, key individuals want to pull on the shirt for these big games."

Meanwhile, several internationals have come straight back into the Leinster team following Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam success last weekend.

Luke McGrath has recovered from the knee injury sustained against Scarlets last month and will captain Leinster in the game in Swansea. He is partnered in the half-backs by fellow St Michael's College man Ross Byrne at fly-half.

Noel Reid, who is just three appearances away from a century of Leinster caps, starts in midfield with Rory O'Loughlin.

Joey Carbery, who featured in Ireland's wins over Italy, Wales, Scotland and England, will start at full-back. Fergus McFadden starts on the right wing with Barry Daly named on the left wing.

There is further international experience in the front-row to face Ospreys with Jack McGrath, Seán Cronin and Andrew Porter all selected to start.

Ross Molony and Scott Fardy form Leinster's second-row partnership.

Leinster's latest centurion, Jordi Murphy, is named at openside flanker in a back-row trio completed by Jack Conan and Josh Murphy.

The teams:

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Hanno Dirksen, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Tom Habberfield, 8 Sam Cross, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Olly Cracknell, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Ifan Phillips, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Rob McCusker, 21 Matthew Aubrey, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Owen Watkin

Leinster: 15 Joey Carbery, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Barry Daly, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Luke McGrath (c), 8 Jack Conan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Scott Fardy, 4 Ross Molony, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Ian Nagle, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Dave Kearney, 23 Adam Byrne

Venue: Liberty Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)