Joey Carbery returns to Munster XV for Ulster game

Colin Newboult

There are two derby matches in the PRO14 on Friday as Cardiff Blues host the Scarlets in the Welsh capital and Ulster take on Munster at Kingspan Stadium.

Cardiff Blues v Scarlets

Nick Williams returns to the number eight jersey as Cardiff Blues make five changes for Friday’s PRO14 derby against the Scarlets.

Following festive triumphs over the Ospreys and Dragons, the Blues are targeting a hat-trick of Welsh derby wins and five consecutive triumphs in the championship.

John Mulvihill has named an unchanged backline but has reshuffled his pack for the visit of the west Walians, with an emphasis on physicality and power.

Rhys Gill and Scott Andrews come into the front-row for Brad Thyer and Keiron Assiratti, while Filo Paulo replaces James Ratti in the second-row.

There are two further changes in the back-row with Nick Williams making his comeback from injury and Will Boyde returning to face his former side. Josh Navidi continues in the back-row and captains the side.

The Scarlets go into the encounter on the back of an emphatic victory over the Ospreys on Boxing Day and a slender defeat to the Dragons.

Cardiff Blues secured back-to-back bonus-point victories over the Scarlets last season and John Mulvihill believes Wales’ capital region can go into the encounter with real confidence.

Meanwhile, the Scarlets make three changes to the side that took the field against the Ospreys on Boxing Day.

All the changes come up front with Werner Kruger replacing Samson Lee at tighthead prop, Fijian international Tevita Ratuva coming in for Sam Lousi at lock and Uzair Cassiem taking the place of Blade Thomson at number eight. Lee, Lousi and Thomson are named among the replacements.

Head coach Brad Mooar has given a vote of faith to the same matchday 23 that registered a record 44-0 victory over the Ospreys.

With Johnny McNicholl still nursing an ankle injury, Leigh Halfpenny, Ryan Conbeer and Steff Evans continue in the back three.

Evans’ derby double took his try tally to six in the PRO14 this season and the winger now has an impressive strike rate of 44 tries in 108 appearances in a Scarlets jersey.

Steff Hughes remains the one ever-present this season and again links up with Wales international Hadleigh Parkes in midfield.

Angus O’Brien, on the back of successive man-of-the-match performances, partners Gareth Davies at half-back.

Kruger joins Wyn Jones and skipper Ken Owens in the front-row, while Jake Ball packs down alongside ‘Tex’ Ratuva in the second-row. Aaron Shingler and Josh Macleod start alongside Cassiem in the back-row.

Scarlets sit third in the Conference B table, four points ahead of the Blues after nine rounds of action.

The teams:

Cardiff Blues: 15 Hallam Amos, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Will Boyde, 6 Josh Navidi (c), 5 Josh Turnbull, 4 Filo Paulo, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Rhys Gill
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 James Ratti, 20 Olly Robinson, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Matthew Morgan

Scarlets: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Ryan Conbeer, 13 Steff Hughes, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Steff Evans, 10 Angus O’Brien, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Josh Macleod, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Tevita Ratuva, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ken Owens (c), 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Phil Price, 17 Ryan Elias, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Sam Lousi, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Paul Asquith

Date: Friday, January 3
Venue: Cardiff Arms Park
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Eddie Hogan-O’Connell (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Ulster v Munster

Iain Henderson and Jacob Stockdale have returned to the Ulster starting XV named to take on Munster in Round 10 of the PRO14 at Kingspan Stadium on Friday. They are two of three changes to the side that recorded a bonus-point victory against Connacht last week.

Stockdale is the only alteration to the starting backline, coming in to start on the left wing alongside Will Addison at full-back and Robert Baloucoune on the right. The familiar duo of Stuart McCloskey and Luke Marshall make up the midfield pairing. Billy Burns and John Cooney also maintain their starting half-back partnership.

The front-row is unchanged from last week; Jack McGrath starts at loosehead, Rob Herring at hooker and Marty Moore starts in the tighthead position.

Henderson resumes the captaincy and starts in the second-row with Alan O’Connor. Matthew Rea once again starts at blindside, as does last week’s man of the match Sean Reidy at openside, and Nick Timoney comes in to take the starting number eight position.

John Andrew, Kyle McCall, and Tom O’Toole will cover the front-row on the bench, while David O’Connor and Greg Jones are named as the additional forward replacements. David Shanahan, Bill Johnston and Craig Gilroy will provide the backline options.

For Munster, there are 10 changes to the team that faced Leinster last weekend as Shane Daly, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Fineen Wycherley and Jack O’Donoghue keep their places.

Peter O’Mahony returns to captain the side with Joey Carbery making his first start of the season at fly-half.

Daly moves to full-back with Andrew Conway and Keith Earls coming into the side on either flank.

Scannell and Arnold continue their centre partnership with Conor Murray in the half-backs with Carbery.

There is an all-changed front-row of Jeremy Loughman, Niall Scannell and academy man Keynan Knox.

Wycherley and Darren O’Shea start in the engine room with a back-row of O’Mahony, O’Donoghue and Arno Botha, who returns from suspension.

Academy duo Diarmuid Barron and Jack O’Sullivan are named among the replacements. John Ryan and Gavin Coombes have recovered from knocks to also take their places in the squad.

The teams:

Ulster: 15 Will Addison, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Billy Burns, 9 John Cooney, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Matthew Rea, 5 Iain Henderson (c), 4 Alan O’Connor, 3 Marty Moore, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Jack McGrath
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 David O’Connor, 20 Greg Jones, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Bill Johnston, 23 Craig Gilroy

Munster: 15 Shane Daly, 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Joey Carbery, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jack O’Donoghue, 6 Peter O’Mahony (c), 5 Darren O’Shea, 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Keynan Knox, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 John Ryan, 19 Gavin Coombes, 20 Jack O’Sullivan, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Dan Goggin, 23 Chris Cloete

Date: Friday, January 3
Venue: Kingspan Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Sean Gallagher (Ireland), Mike English (Wales)
TMO: Sean Brickell (Wales)

Cardiff Rugby