PRO14 Preview: Friday
There are three matches taking place in the tournament's opening round on Friday with Munster, Cardiff Blues and Ulster at home against Treviso, Edinburgh and the Cheetahs.
Munster v Treviso
Munster boss Rassie Erasmus has made ust two changes to his side that defeated Worcester Warriors in pre-eason action last week, academy flanker Sean O'Connor coming into the back row to make his first PRO14 appearance and returning international Andrew Conway joining the back-three at full-back.
Retaining his starting spot after an impressive showing in pre-season, loosehead Liam O'Connor is the second academy player to make his first start and packs down alongside Rhys Marshall and Stephen Archer.
The addition of O'Connor to the back row sees Billy Holland revert to the tight five and is partnered by Jean Kleyn in the second row. The South African has successfully rehabbed the neck injury that saw him miss the end of last season.
Openside Tommy O'Donnell, who has now completed return-to-play protocols, and number eight Jack O'Donoghue complete the pack.
Netting a brace in Worcester, Duncan Williams continues at scrum-half alongside captain Tyler Bleyendaal, while Chris Farrell makes his competitive debut for the province in partnering Jaco Taute in midfield.
Wingers Alex Wootton and Darren Sweetnam join Conway in the back-three, the latter drawing ever closer to 100 PRO14 appearances and will play in the competition for the 98th time.
Named on the bench, long term injury returnee Mike Sherry could play his first competitive game since May 2016, with James Hart and Ciaran Parker in line for PRO14 debuts.
Robin Copeland overcomes a shoulder injury in timely fashion for the new season and also takes his place on the bench.
Meanwhile, 2015 Super Rugby winner and former Highlanders fly-half Marty Banks will make his Super Rugby debut in the number 10 jersey for Treviso.
Banks will be joined in the visitors' back-line by Ian McKinley, who lines up at full-back, and he is joined in the back three by pacy wings Angelo Esposito and Edoardo Gori.
Tommaso Benvenuti and Tommaso Allan will be the centre pairing while Tito Tebaldi starts at scrum-half alongside Banks.
In the pak, the front row will consist of hooker Luca Bigi who will pack down alongside props Federico Zani Simone Ferrari.
Dean Budd will captain the side from the second row and he will pack down alongside Marco Lazzaroni. Finally, the back row sees Francesco Minto, Sebastian Negri and Whetu Douglas completing the XV chosen by head coach Kieran Crowley.
The teams:
Munster: 15 Andrew Conway, 14 Darren Sweetnam,13 Chris Farrell, 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal (c), 9 Duncan Williams, 8 Jack O'Donoghue, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Sean O'Connor, 5 Billy Holland, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Rhys Marshall, 1 Liam O'Connor
Replacements: 16 Mike Sherry, 17 Brian Scott, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 Fineen Wycherley, 20 Robin Copeland, 21 James Hart, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Dan Goggin
Treviso: 15 Ian McKinley, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Tommaso Allan, 11 Edoardo Gori, 10 Marty Banks, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Whetu Douglas, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Marco Lazzaroni, 4 Dean Budd (c), 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Abraham Steyn, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Alberto Sgarbi, 23 Andrea Buondonno
Date: Friday, September 1
Venue: Thomond Park
Kick-off: 19:35 local (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Gary Conway (Ireland)
TMO: Neil Hennessy (Wales)
Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh
Outside centre Rey Lee-Lo returns to action as Cardiff Blues kick-off their 2017/18 campaign with a home clash against Edinburgh.
Lee-Lo, Cardiff Blues' 2016/17 Peter Thomas Player of the Year, did not feature during the pre-season victories over London Scottish and Exeter Chiefs after he was given an extended break following his summer exploits with Samoa.
But he has been training with the squad and goes straight into a starting XV, which includes 10 internationals and Nick Williams, who also returns.
Cardiff Blues head coach Danny Wilson said: "Rey was our player of the year last season and will be an important player for us again.
"It's hard to keep him out of my office because he wants to play every week and is desperate to play. Trying to hold him off this long has been a challenge but it's great to have him back.
"He has been training the last couple of weeks and we'll manage him over the first month because he had a huge summer of rugby."
Lee-Lo will form a midfield combination with Willis Halaholo while Jarrod Evans (fly-half) and Lloyd Williams (scrum-half) are the starting halfbacks. Matthew Morgan lines up at full-back while Alex Cuthbert abd Aled Summerhill are the starting wings.
In the forwards, Williams starts at number eight with Josh Navidi and Josh Turnbull the starting flankers. Damian Welch and Seb Davies pack down in the second row while Matthew Rees captains the side from the front row wearing the number two jersey.
Taufa'ao Filise and Rhys Gill are the starting props.
Meanwhile, Blair Kinghorn starts at full-back for Edinburgh with Dougie Fife and Jason Harries – who will make his first competitive start for the club – named on the wings.
Chris Dean and Junior Rasolea start in the centre, with Scotland internationalists Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (scrum-half) and Duncan Weir (fly-half) combining as the half back pairing.
Loosehead prop Darryl Marfo will make his competitive debut in the front row alongside club centurions Stuart McInally and WP Nel, with Anton Bresler and Grant Gilchirst packing down in the second row.
Newly appointed captain, Magnus Bradbury, is joined in the back row by Jamie Ritchie and John Hardie, who occupy the blindside and openside flank respectively.
On his team selection, Edinburgh's director of rugby, Richard Cockerill said: “I’m optimistic. The boys have had a good pre-season, but I’m sure everyone is saying the same in that regard. We’ve had a couple of good weeks, we just need to make sure we go and we put our best game out on the field.
“Cardiff are a dangerous side, both from their drive in the forward pack and the fact they like to play an unstructured game. They’ve got players that can punish you if you’re inaccurate. We’ve prepared well, but we just don’t know what to expect until we get into the live scenario. We’re going there to win, that’s our mentality and so it should be. We’re looking forward to it.
“It’s my first experience [of Cardiff Arms Park]. There’s a synthetic field, which will make the game quick, and we’ve not won there for the last four years so it’s going to be a challenge for us. The playing group are in a good place, but we need to make sure that we go there and do the job. We’ve got to have a tough mind-set and physically we’ve got to be very good. It’s important that we get off to a good start and bring some points back.
“We’ve got internationals that are coming back in and available and we’ve got guys that have done 11 or 12 weeks of pre-season. We’ve picked a team which we feel is the right squad, because of the dynamics of bringing international guys back in – some will feature, some won’t. It’s a long season so in the here and now we’ve picked what I think is the best side to go to Cardiff and win.”
The teams:
Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Aled Summerhill, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Seb Davies, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Rhys Gill
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhil, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 vSion Bennett, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Steve Shingler, 23 Tom James
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Junior Rasolea, 11 Jason Harries, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Magnus Bradbury (c), 7 John Hardie, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Darryl Marfo
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Glenn Bryce
Date: Friday, September 1
Venue: Cardiff Arms Park
Kick-off: 19:35 local (18:35 GMT)
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Correll (Ireland), Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Ulster v Cheetahs
Christian Lealiifano is set to make his first Ulster appearance on Friday in this historic PRO14 clash with Cheetahs at Kingspan Stadium.
Fellow summer signings Jean Deysel and John Cooney will also make their competitive debuts for the province, having both lined out during the pre-season fixtures.
Friday’s match will mark a momentous chapter in the history of the PRO14 Championship, as Southern Hemisphere sides join the competition for the first time, with the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs making their maiden trip to Belfast.
Cooney and Lealiifano will have their first chance to form an exciting new half back partnership, while Stuart McCloskey and Tommy Bowe will link up in midfield.
Louis Ludik, Andrew Trimble and Charles Piutau will form an experienced back three combination.
Chris Henry will captain the side from openside flanker, in what is an abrasive looking back row with the South African duo of Deysel and Marcell Coetzee at blindside and number eight respectively.
The front five is made up of Kyle McCall, Rob Herring and Wiehahn Herbst in the front row, with Robbie Diack and Alan O’Connor paired once again in the second row.
Back row forward Matthew Rea could earn his first Ulster cap, as he is included in the replacements along with fellow forwards John Andrew, Callum Black, Rodney Ah You and Sean Reidy. David Shanahan, Peter Nelson and Darren Cave will provide the backline cover from the bench.
Coach Rory Duncan, meanwhile, named a strong matchday squad for this historic clash.
Niell Jordaan leads the side from number eight and he is joined in the back row by Henco Venter and Paul Schoeman while Reniel Hugo and Justin Basson are the starting locks.
Props Johan Coetzee and Charles Marais start in the front row alongside the hooker, Jacques du Toit.
In the back-line, Sergeal Petersen will wear the number 15 jersey while Rosko Specman and Makazole Mapimpi are the starting wings and William Small-Smith and Ali Mgijima are the midfield pairing.
“The Toyota Cheetah players are extremely excited to join this world class championship”, said Toyota Cheetah captain, Neill Jordaan after arriving in Belfast on Wednesday.
Regular full-back Clayton Blommetjies starts at fly-half while Shaun Venter is the starting scrum-half.
South Africans who previously played for Ulster are Johann Muller, Ruan Pienaar (Independent.ie Try of the Season 2017) and Franco van der Merwe.
The teams:
Ulster: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Tommy Bowe, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Louis Ludik, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 John Cooney, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Chris Henry (c), 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Alan O’Connor, 4 Robbie Diack, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Kyle McCall
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Callum Black, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Matthew Rea, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Peter Nelson, 23 Darren Cave
Cheetahs: 15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Rosko Specman, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan (c), 7 Henco Venter, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Charles Marais
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Gerhard Olivier, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Cecil Afrika, 23 Ryno Benjamin
Date: Friday, September 1
Venue: Kingspan Stadium
Kick-off: 19:35 local (18:35 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Simon Rees (Wales), Leo Colgan (Ireland)
TMO: John Sheehan (Ireland)
Photo credit: Official PRO14 website