Leigh Halfpenny to start for Scarlets against Cheetahs
Three PRO14 matches will take place on Saturday with Edinburgh versus Cardiff Blues the big game before Sunday sees Scarlets host the Cheetahs.
Saturday:
Benetton head coach Kieran Crowley has made five changes to his starting line-up for this fixture against the Dragons at the Stadio Monigo.
In the back-line, there’s a new midfield pairing with Tommaso Benvenuti and Alberto Sgarbi replacing Tommaso Iannone and Marco Zanon at outside and inside centre respectively. Sgarbi will also captain the side.
The only other change amongst the backs sees Antonio Rizzi coming in at fly-half for Ian McKinley, who is on Six Nations duty with Italy.
The two alterations in the forwards see Niccolò Cannone replacing Federico Ruzza in the second-row while Derrick Appiah takes over from Nicola Quaglio at loosehead prop.
Meanwhile, fly-half Jason Tovey returns to the Dragons starting line-up and he is on the brink of making history for the Welsh region.
Tovey – who starts the league game just five short of 1,000 points for Dragons in all competitions – is one of four changes made by head coach Ceri Jones for this encounter.
Centre Jack Dixon is recalled to partner Tyler Morgan in midfield while full-back Zane Kirchner is also named in the team.
The only change in the pack is a call-up for experienced second-row forward Lewis Evans. Hooker Richard Hibbard will captain the side.
Centre Adam Warren returns among the replacements, but versatile back Jordan Williams is ruled out of the trip to Italy through injury.
The teams:
Benetton: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (c), 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Antonio Rizzi, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli, 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Niccolò Cannone, 4 Irné Herbst, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Tomas Baravalle, 1 Derrick Appiah
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Giuseppe Di Stefano, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Marco Barbini, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Marco Zanon, 23 Tommaso Iannone
Dragons:Â 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Jared Rosser, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Will Talbot-Davies, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 James Benjamin, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Harri Keddie, 5 Matthew Screech, 4 Lewis Evans, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Richard Hibbard (c), 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Rhys Lawrence, 17 Rhys Fawcett, 18 Dan Suter, 19 Joe Davies, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Rhodri Davies, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Adam Warren
Venue: Stadio Monigo
Kick-off: 14:00 local (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Andrea Piardi (Italy), Gianlucca Gnecchi (Italy)
Television match official: Alan Falzone (Italy)
Edinburgh vs Cardiff Blues
Scotland international winger, Damien Hoyland, will make his long-awaited return from injury as Edinburgh host Cardiff Blues at Murrayfield.
The inclusion of Hoyland is one of six changes made to the side that defeated the Dragons at Murrayfield as Edinburgh aim to continue their unbeaten record at home in all competitions this season.
In the front-row, prop Pierre Schoeman packs down alongside Pietro Ceccarelli and hooker David Cherry, whilst skipper Fraser McKenzie links up with Callum-Hunter Hill in the second-row.
Viliame Mata anchors a back-row featuring Ally Miller and openside flanker, Luke Crosbie.
Nathan Fowles and Jaco van der Walt will pull the strings as the half-backs, while last week’s double try scorer James Johnstone lines up alongside Juan Pablo Socino in the midfield.
Recent Scotland call-up Dougie Fife has been released by the national squad to start at full-back and is joined by wingers Duhan van der Merwe and Hoyland.
Edinburgh also welcomes back Mark Bennett who is named amongst the replacements – the centre has been sidelined due to injury since the game against Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium in September last year.
Meanwhile, Rhys Carré will make his first PRO14 start as Cardiff Blues travel to the Scottish capital city.
The promising loosehead prop has made seven Championship appearances from the bench this season and made an impact as a replacement during last week’s defeat to Glasgow Warriors at the Arms Park.
Carré is one of five changes made for the trip to Murrayfield, with head coach John Mulvihill making four of those changes in the pack.
Hooker Liam Belcher also makes his first PRO14 start for the region, joining Carré and Moldovan international, Dmitri Arhip, in the front-row.
George Earle is re-introduced to the second-row, while Cardiff Blues academy’s Shane Lewis-Hughes replaces Josh Turnbull in the number six jersey.
Elsewhere, Willis Halaholo is reunited with Rey Lee-Lo in the midfield in an otherwise unchanged back-line.
Kristian Dacey is ruled out of the clash, with number eight Nick Williams taking over the captaincy duties in his absence.
13 of the matchday 23 have progressed through the Blues academy and Mulvihill has been delighted with the progression of his young guns, particularly in-form wings, Owen Lane and Aled Summerhill, have scored five tries each in their last four appearances.
Wing Jason Harries returns from a foot injury to take his place on the bench and could feature against his former side.
Replacements Corey Domachowski and Alun Lawrence are rewarded for their fine form for Pontypridd in recent weeks, as the latter could make his Championship debut for the region.
The teams:
Edinburgh:Â 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Damien Hoyland, 13 James Johnstone, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Nathan Fowles, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Ally Miller, 5 Callum Hunter-Hill, 4 Fraser McKenzie (c), 3 Pietro Ceccarell, 2 David Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Senitiki Nayalo, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Mark Bennett
Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Aled Summerhill, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Nick Williams (c), 7 Olly Robinson, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 George Earle, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Liam Belcher, 1 Rhys Carré
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Jason Harries
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Keith Allen (Scotland), Eddie Hogan-O’Connell (Ireland)
Television match official: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Darren Cave will earn his 222nd cap to move him to second in Ulster’s all-time appearance list, overtaking Roger Wilson’s tally of 221. The 31-year-old will now have his sights on Andrew Trimble’s club record of 229.
Cave is again joined in midfield by Stuart McCloskey, who marked a milestone last week against Ospreys with a man-of-the-match performance in his 100th provincial game.
There is a new half-back partnership with Dave Shanahan and Peter Nelson named at scrum-half and fly-half respectively. Robert Baloucoune has returned from injury and will line out on the right wing, with Rob Lyttle picked on the opposite flank and Louis Ludik moving to full-back.
The front-row of Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring and Marty Moore is unchanged from last week’s win in Bridgend, while Kieran Treadwell comes into the second-row alongside captain Alan O’Connor. Sean Reidy will start in the seven jersey and is joined in the back-row by Clive Ross and Nick Timoney.
Meanwhile, Zebre are without several players currently with the Italian national team.
Head coach Michael Bradley has called in four permit players, all former players of the Ivan Francescato National U20 Academy, for this game.
They are back-row Jacopo Bianchi of Fiamme Oro, loosehead prop Danilo Fischetti of Rugby Calvisano, Alessandro Mordacci of Valorugby Emilia and lock Lorenzo Masselli, who plays his rugby for Lyons Piacenza.
The teams:
Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Rob Lyttle, 10 Peter Nelson, 9 Dave Shanahan, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Sean Reidy, 6 Clive Ross, 5 Kieran Treadwell, 4 Alan O’Connor (c), 3 Marty Moore, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Eric O’Sullivan
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Ross Kane, 19 Ian Nagle, 20 Greg Jones, 21 Jonny Stewart, 22 Johnny McPhillips, 23 James Hume
Zebre: 15 Francois Brummer, 14 Paula Balekana, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Nicolas De Battista, 11 James Elliott, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Joshua Renton, 8 Jacopo Bianchi, 7 James Brown, 6 Apisai Tauyavuca, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Daniele Rimpelli
Replacements: 16 Luhandre Luus, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Lorenzo Masselli, 20 Alessandro Mordacci, 21 Riccardo Raffaele, 22 Maicol Azzolini, 23 Giovanbattista Venditti
Venue: Kingspan Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Dewi Phillips (Wales), Gareth Newman (Wales)
Television match official: Ken Henley-Willis (Ireland)
Sunday
Scarlets vs Cheetahs
Leigh Halfpenny is set to make his first Scarlets appearance since October after being named in the side to face the Cheetahs in their crucial PRO14 clash at Parc y Scarlets.
Halfpenny has recovered from a concussion suffered on international duty with Wales during the autumn series and has been released from the national camp to play this weekend.
He is joined in the matchday 23 by fellow Wales squad members Wyn Jones, Ryan Elias, Jake Ball and Rhys Patchell as head coach Wayne Pivac makes four personnel changes to the side that was beaten 25-19 by Benetton last weekend.
Halfpenny’s return at full-back sees Johnny McNicholl switch to the wing in place of Steff Evans in the only change behind the scrum. Evans remains in the Wales camp.
Up front, Jones and Elias replace Phil Price and Marc Jones, while Ball – who will captain the side – comes in to partner Josh Helps in the second-row.
The back-row is the same as the one that took the field at the Stadio Monigo with South African number eight Uzair Cassiem going up against his former side.
On the bench, Javan Sebastian comes in to provide tighthead cover, Tom Phillips has recovered from a hamstring issue, while Sam Hidalgo-Clyne replaces Jonathan Evans, who is set to miss the rest of the season because of an ankle injury.
The Cheetahs, meanwhile, have made just two alterations to their run-on side after last weekend’s defeat to Connacht.
In the second-row, Jasper Wiese and Walt Steenkamp switch places with Steenkamp coming in to the starting line-up.
And in the back-line, Dries Swanepoel and Benhard Janse van Rensburg will form the centre combination with Janse van Rensburg replacing Nico Lee, who was suspended after the Connacht encounter.
The following players are not eligible for team selection due to injury: Oupa Mohoje (knee), Jamba Ulenga (neck), Joseph Dweba (hamstring), Malcolm Jaer (knee), Aidon Davis (broken leg).
The teams:
Scarlets:Â 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Paul Asquith, 11 Ioan Nicholas, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Josh Macleod, 5 Josh Helps, 4 Jake Ball (c), 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Phil Price, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 Tom Phillips, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Steff Hughes
Cheetahs:Â 15 Louis Fouche, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Dries Swanepoel, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Shaun Venter (c), 8 Gerhard Olivier, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Abongile Nonkontwana, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Reinach Venter, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Rudy Paige, 23 Tian Meyer
Venue: Parc y Scarlets
Kick-off: 13:00 GMT
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones, Chris Busby (Ireland)
Television match official: Jon Mason (Wales)