Seven changes from Munster as Mike Haley returns

Adam Kyriacou
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The derbies continue in the PRO14 on Saturday when Benetton host Zebre, Edinburgh take on Glasgow Warriors and Munster clash with Leinster.

Benetton v Zebre

Benetton have made a handful of changes to their side as they look to make it back-to-back wins over Italian rivals Zebre in the festive period.

Into the home side’s backline comes Ignacio Brex and Monty Ioane while Ratuva Tavuyara moves to right wing in place of Angelo Esposito.

Changes are made in the second-row where Irné Herbst and Federico Ruzza come in for Niccolo Cannone and Eli Snyman while Marco Lazzaroni and Giovanni Pettinelli are handed starts in the back-row as Sebastian Negri drops to the bench and Toa Halafihi misses out on the 23 altogether.

Zebre meanwhile have named the same backline that played last week as they look to respond from that 13-8 defeat at Stadio Monigo on Saturday.

After scoring last week, Marco Manfredi is promoted to starting hooker while Eduardo Bello comes in at tighthead, David Sisi replaces Ian Nagle at lock while Maxime Mbandà is on the flank ahead of Jimmy Tuivaiti.

The teams:

Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (c), 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli, 6 Marco Lazzaroni, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Irné Herbst, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Federico Zani
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Cherif Traore, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Marco Barbini, 22 Tito Tebaldi, 23 Tommaso Allan

Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Paula Balekana, 13 Giulio Bisegni (c), 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 James Elliott, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Maxime Mbandà, 5 Michael Kearney, 4 David Sisi, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Marco Manfredi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Alexandru Tarus, 19 Ian Nagle, 20 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 21 Joshua Renton, 22 Junior Laloifi, 23 Charlie Walker

Venue: Stadio Monigo
Kick-off: 14:00 local (13:00 GMT)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Marius Mitrea (Italy), Manuel Bottino (Italy)
TMO: Alan Falzone (Italy)

Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors

Edinburgh have made three changes for the 1872 Cup second leg against Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield.

Scotland stars Jamie Ritchie and WP Nel both return to the starting line-up at blindside flanker and tighthead prop respectively, while Nic Groom gets the nod at scrum-half in the only change to the backline.

An unchanged back-three sees Blair Kinghorn – a try-scorer in last weekend’s opening leg at Scotstoun – named at full-back, as Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe continue on the wings.

Scotland star Mark Bennett – who on Thursday penned a new deal with the club – once again links up with George Taylor in midfield, while Groom starts at scrum-half alongside fly-half Simon Hickey.

The inclusion of 35-times capped tighthead Nel is the only alteration to an otherwise unchanged front-row as Stuart McInally and Pierre Schoeman continue up-front.

Experienced locks Grant Gilchrist and Ben Toolis are once again named in the second-row as Ritchie returns to the back-row alongside openside flanker Hamish Watson and number eight Viliame Mata.

Elsewhere, Scotland international centre Matt Scott is once again fit and is named among the replacements.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie has made four alterations to his starting XV, as his side heads east in search of back-to-back victories over the capital outfit this season.

Oli Kebble comes into the side at loosehead prop in the only change to the starting pack, as Fraser Brown and last weekend’s man-of-the-match Zander Fagerson continue in the front-row.

The industrious pairing of Jonny Gray and Scott Cummings are once again selected in the second-row, the Scotland duo having impressed around the park on Saturday.

An unchanged back-row sees Rob Harley and Callum Gibbins line up on the flanks, with Ryan Wilson packing down at number eight.

After his try-scoring impact at Scotstoun, Ali Price is promoted to the starting XV to partner Adam Hastings at half-back.

Sam Johnson and Huw Jones continue together in the centres, the latter’s break having led to Price’s try last time out.

A brace of changes on the wing sees DTH van der Merwe and Ratu Tagive return to the starting line-up, as Ruaridh Jackson retains the full-back shirt for a second successive match.

The teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 George Taylor, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20, Magnus Bradbury, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Matt Scott

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Ratu Tagive, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ali Price, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Adam Nicol, 19 Adam Ashe, 20 Tom Gordon, 21 George Horne, 22 Nick Grigg, 23 Niko Matawalu

Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Keith Allen (Scotland), David Sutherland (Scotland)
TMO: Neil Patterson (Scotland)

Munster v Leinster

Munster second-row Billy Holland captains a side which sees seven changes to the team that defeated Connacht at the Sportsground last week.

Mike Haley, Sammy Arnold, Rory Scannell, Nick McCarthy, Fineen Wycherley, Tommy O’Donnell and Jack O’Donoghue all start with Joey Carbery set to make his first Munster appearance of the season off the bench.

There are three Academy players named among the replacements – Diarmuid Barron, Keynan Knox and Jack O’Sullivan.

Haley starts at full-back with Dan Goggin and Shane Daly named on either flank. Goggin, who has previously played on the wing as a replacement, starts as a winger for the province for the first time.

Scannell and Arnold pair up in the centres with McCarthy and JJ Hanrahan, man-of-the-match last week, in the half-backs.

Dave Kilcoyne, Kevin O’Byrne and Stephen Archer pack down in an unchanged front-row.

Wycherley and Holland start in the engine room with O’Donnell, Chris Cloete and O’Donoghue completing the side.

Meanwhile, there are a number of changes to the Leinster team that accounted for Ulster last weekend.

Hugo Keenan starts at full-back with Adam Byrne on the right wing and James Lowe selected on the left.

In the centre Conor O’Brien starts in the number 12 jersey with Jimmy O’Brien outside him.

Jamison Gibson-Park is joined by Ross Byrne in the half-backs with Byrne returning after recovering from a dead leg.

In the pack Ed Byrne, James Tracy and Andrew Porter start in the front-row with Devin Toner behind them in the second, alongside captain Scott Fardy.

In the back-row, Josh Murphy is selected at blindside, with Will Connors at openside and Caelan Doris at number eight.

The teams:

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Dan Goggin, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Shane Daly, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 Nick McCarthy, 8 Jack O’Donoghue, 7 Chris Cloete, 6 Tommy O’Donnell, 5 Billy Holland (c), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Kevin O’Byrne, 1 Dave Kilcoyne
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Keynan Knox, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Jack O’Sullivan, 21 Neil Cronin, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Calvin Nash

Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Adam Byrne, 13 Jimmy O’Brien, 12 Conor O’Brien, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Will Connors, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Scott Fardy (c), 4 Devin Toner, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 James Tracy, 1 Ed Byrne
Replacements: 16 Seán Cronin, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Jack Aungier, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Scott Penny, 21 Rowan Osborne, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Tommy O’Brien

Venue: Thomond Park
Kick-off: 18:00 GMT
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Chris Busby (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

Benetton Treviso