Devin Toner to captain Leinster against Dragons

David Skippers
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The PRO14’s fifth round action starts on Friday with Glasgow Warriors, Ulster and Leinster hosting the Southern Kings, Zebre and Dragons respectively.

Leinster v Dragons

There are a number of changes to the Leinster team that won in Italy last weekend, with Devin Toner captaining the side for only the second time on his 235th appearance and there is also a first start for Academy lock Ryan Baird as well as fly-half Harry Byrne.

In the back three Jimmy O’Brien starts at full-back, with Dave Kearney and James Lowe on the right and left wing respectively.

Conor O’Brien makes his first start of the season with Rory O’Loughlin continuing in the number 13 jersey beside him.

Jamison Gibson-Park is again selected at scrum-half with Byrne to make his first start in a Leinster senior team beside him.

In the pack Peter Dooley and Michael Bent are again the starting props with Rónan Kelleher at hooker this week.

Behind them is captain Toner with Baird starting for the first time beside him in the second-row.

Finally in the back-row Max Deegan, Scott Penny and Caelan Doris are the trio selected by Cullen this week.

On the bench, there is a potential debut for prop Jack Aungier while there is also a welcome return from injury for Ciarán Frawley who is in line to make his first competitive appearance of the season.

Meanwhile, Dragons centre Connor Edwards is called up to face the champions as the Welsh region travel to the RDS Arena.

Highly-rated Dragons Academy product Edwards will make his first senior league appearance since April 2018.

Edwards, 22, is one of only two changes made to the starting line-up by boss Dean Ryan from the side that defeated Glasgow Warriors last weekend at Rodney Parade.

Fit-again back-row forward Harri Keddie also returns in Dublin to wear the six shirt.

A positional change in the back-row sees Ollie Griffiths move to seven with Taine Basham, who has scored tries in three successive league games, named at number eight.

Hooker Ellis Shipp returns among the replacements.

The teams:

Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien, 14 Dave Kearney, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Conor O’Brien, 11 James Lowe, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Max Deegan, 5 Ryan Baird, 4 Devin Toner (c), 3 Michael Bent, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Peter Dooley
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Will Connors, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Cian Kelleher

Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Owen Jenkins, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Connor Edwards, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Rhodri Williams (c), 8 Taine Basham, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Harri Keddie, 5 Matthew Screech, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Leon Brown, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Josh Reynolds, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Max Williams, 20 Huw Taylor, 21 Luke Baldwin, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Tyler Morgan

Venue: RDS Arena
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Matteo Liperini (Italy)
TMO: Alan Falzone (Italy)

Glasgow Warriors v Southern Kings

Six Rugby World Cup stars will make their first appearance of the season for Glasgow Warriors when they host the Southern Kings at Scotstoun on Friday.

Warriors head coach Dave Rennie makes seven changes to his starting XV ahead of the visit of the men from Port Elizabeth.

Five of the club’s Scotland contingent come back into the fold for Glasgow’s first home match in three weeks, alongside club record try-scorer DTH van der Merwe.

The Canadian lines up on the wing alongside Niko Matawalu and Glenn Bryce, both of whom retain their places from last weekend’s defeat in Newport.

A new-look centre partnership sees the returning Pete Horne line up inside Huw Jones, with the former Stormer rewarded for his try-scoring impact off the bench last weekend.

George Horne and Adam Hastings start together at half-back for the first time since starring together in Scotland’s victory over Russia in Shizuoka, in which the pair combined for 41 of the men in blue’s 61 points in a resounding victory.

Up front, Zander Fagerson replaces Adam Nicol at tighthead prop, packing down alongside Oli Kebble and Grant Stewart in the front-row.

Tim Swinson comes into the squad in place of Adam Ashe after the latter sustained a head knock against the Dragons, lining up alongside Kiran McDonald in the second-row.

Swinson’s inclusion means that Rob Harley reverts to the back-row, with captain Callum Gibbins and Matt Fagerson completing the starting XV.

George Turner is another in line to make his first appearance for the club since returning from World Cup duty, with the hooker lining up amongst the replacements for the encounter.

Alex Allan and D’arcy Rae are the replacement props, whilst Andrew Davidson and Chris Fusaro will cover the second and back-rows respectively.

Jamie Dobie continues in the number 21 jersey, whilst Stafford McDowall rotates to the bench for this weekend’s fixture.

The replacements are completed by winger Ratu Tagive, who is in line to make his first competitive appearance for the club since the visit to Munster in February 2018.

Meanwhile, Ruaan Lerm will captain a Southern Kings side that will see Thembelani Bholi (flanker) and Erich Cronje (outside centre) earning starting berths, and JT Jackson playing at fly-half in place of the injured Demetri Catrakilis.

Elsewhere, Sibusiso Sithole shifts from outside centre – where Cronje slots in – to the left wing where he replaces Josiah Twum-Boafo.

There is also an opportunity for a debut off the bench for Gavin Mills while Scott van Breda, who joined the Kings on a two-match loan from Worcester Warriors earlier this week, is also amongst the replacements.

The teams:

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Glenn Bryce, 14 Niko Matawalu, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Rob Harley , 5 Kiran McDonald, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Grant Stewart, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Alex Allan, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Jamie Dobie, 22 Stafford McDowall, 23 Ratu Tagive

Southern Kings: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Christopher Hollis, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 JT Jackson, 9 Josh Allderman, 8 Ruaan Lerm (c), 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Tienie Burger, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Bobby de Wee, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Juan Schoman
Replacements: 16 Alandre van Rooyen, 17 Xandre Vos, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 Jerry Sexton, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Gavin Mills, 22 Siya Masuku, 23 Scott van Breda

Venue: Scotstoun
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Joy Neville (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Keith Allen (Scotland), John Carvill (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)

Ulster v Zebre

Rob Herring will return from international duty to captain Ulster when they play Zebre at Kingspan Stadium on Friday.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has made six changes to the starting XV that defeated the Cardiff Blues last weekend.

Four of the changes have been made to the back-line. In the back three, Will Addison will assume the full-back position while Rob Lyttle returns to join Louis Ludik on the wings.

In the midfield, Matt Faddes comes in to partner Luke Marshall. There are also changes at half-back, with Bill Johnston and David Shanahan partnering together for the first time.

Herring is the only change in the front-row, joining Jack McGrath and Tom O’Toole who will start his fifth consecutive game at tighthead.

The second-row pairing remains the same as last week with Alan O’Connor and Kieran Treadwell starting. Matthew Rea – also starting his fifth game in a row – will line up on the blindside flank, with Nick Timoney returning to start at openside. Marcell Coetzee completes the back-row at number eight.

In the replacements, Adam McBurney, Kyle McCall, Ross Kane, Sam Carter and Sean Reidy provide forward cover. John Cooney is set to make his 50 appearances milestone off the bench, and is joined by Angus Curtis and Craig Gilroy for the backline reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Zebre head coach Michael Bradley has rung the changes to his run-on side. In the backs, there are five alterations after last weekend’s loss to Leinster at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma.

Junior Laloifi (full-back) and right wing Charlie Walker replace Michelangelo Biondelli and Edoardo Padovani while James Elliott and Tommaso Boni take over from Giulio Bisegni and Enrico Lucchin as the preferred midfield combination.

The final change in the backs sees Marcello Violi taking over from Joshua Renton at scrum-half.

In the forwards, Renato Giammarioli starts at number eight at the expense of David Sisi while Giovanni Licata shifts from the blindside to openside flank with Maxime Mbandà coming in to wear the number six jersey.

Elsewhere, Ian Nagle replaces Mick Kearney in the second-row while Oliviero Fabiani takes over from Marco Manfredi as the starting hooker.

The teams:

Ulster: 15 Will Addison, 14 Louis Ludik, 13 Matt Faddes, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Rob Lyttle, 10 Bill Johnston, 9 David Shanahan, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring (c), 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 Adam McBurney, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Sam Carter, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 John Cooney, 22 Angus Curtis, 23 Craig Gilroy

Zebre: 15 Junior Laloifi, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 James Elliott, 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Giovanni Licata, 6 Maxime Mbandà, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 Ian Nagle, 3 Giosuè Zilocchi, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Leonard Krumov, 20 Apisai Tauyavuca, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Enrico Lucchin, 23 Joshua Renton

Venue: Kingspan Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Neil Patterson (Scotland)

Dragons