Connacht fly-half Dan Parks makes his Heineken Cup debut for the Irish province in Saturday's clash with Italian outfit Zebre at Stadio XXV Aprile.
This is only Connacht's second season in Europe's premier cup competition following fifteen years in the Amlin Challenge Cup.
Parks is fourteenth on the all-time scoring list in Europe, with 355 points after previously representing Cardiff Blues and Glasgow Warriors in the competition.
Eric Elwood's troops will be full of confidence of claiming a win after their 30-17 triumph over Zebre in Parma in their PRO12 clash earlier this season.
Meanwhile, Zebre's former Waratahs utility-back Daniel Halangahu will also make his Heineken Cup debut at full-back.
The teams:
Zebre: 15 Daniel Halangahu, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Matteo Pratichetti, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tito Tebaldi,8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Nicola Belardo, 5 Josh Sole, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Luca Redolfini, 2 Davide Giazzon, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Carlo Fazzari, 19 Mike Van Vuuren, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Luca Martinelli, 22 Ruggero Trevisan, 23 Leonardo Sarto.
Connacht: 15 Robbie Henshaw, 14 Tiernan O'Halloran, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Dave McSharry, 11 Fetu'u Vainikolo, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 George Naoupu, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mike McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Nathan White, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Dennis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Rodney Ah You, 18 Ronan Loughney, 19 Dave Gannon, 20 Johnny O'Connor, 21 Dave Moore, 22 Miah Nikora, 23 Mata Fifita.
Date: Saturday, October 13
Kick-off: 14:35 local (13:35 BST)
Venue: Stadio XXV Aprile
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant referees: Wayne Davies (Wales), Greg Morgan (Wales)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Timekeeper: Giorgio Maggi (Italy)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France)
Citing commissioner: Wade Dooley (England)
Comments
buttalapasta says...
Zebre are not alone... Grenoble 59 - 3 Cavalieri Prato, Bayonne 71 - 7 Mogliano Rugby. I think it's time we withdraw our teams from these competitions, it's a matter of decency.
That said, now I must hope Zebre will lose this game O.O
Posted 11:59 13th October 2012
damo says...
Come on Connaught put this joke of a team to the sword
Posted 23:39 12th October 2012