Friday's Guinness PRO12 team news
Friday 4 March 2016 21:43, UK
All the team news for Friday's Guinness PRO12 clashes, including top-of-the-table Connacht against Edinburgh.
Scarlets v Treviso (7.05pm)
Scarlets have been boosted by the return of international players Jake Ball, Aled Davies and Aled Thomas, as well as DTH van der Merwe, who missed out on the Welsh side's loss to Edinburgh last weekend.
Currently in third place in the Guinness PRO12 table, Scarlets will be looking for a victory on Friday night to cement their place in the top four ahead of the last five games of the regular season.
Speaking ahead of Friday night's clash, head coach Wayne Pivac said: "When we went in to this block we had a set number of wins we were after and we're on target. A win on the weekend would allow this group to look back and say they've been in the top four for the majority of the season, they've done a great job for us.
"We're a big 80 minutes away from a reasonable position in the table with the last five games ahead of us.
"Treviso have improved a lot in recent weeks and have done so without their internationals. They have suffered a lot of close losses; we know that from our game out there where we got out of jail.
"We certainly won't be taking them lightly at all, they'll be buoyant and they're playing for a spot in Europe as we are."
Scarlets: 15 Michael Collins, 14 Steff Evans, 13 Regan King, 12 Hadleigh Parkes (c), 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Aled Davies, 1 Dylan Evans, 2 Kirby Myhill 3 Peter Edwards, 4 Jake Ball, 5 David Bulbring, 6 Maselino Paulino, 7 James Davies, 8 John Barclay.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Tom Price, 20 Will Boyde, 21 Connor Lloyd, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Gareth Owen.
Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Alberto Sgarbi ( C ), 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Sam Christie, 9 Alberto Lucchese, 1 Alberto De Marchi, 2 Luca Bigi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 4 Filo Paulo, 5 Tom Palmer, 6 Marco Barbini, 7 Marco Lazzaroni, 8 Robert Barbieri.
Replacements: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Cherif Traorè, 18 Filippo Filippetto, 19 Jeff Montauriol, 20 Dean Budd, 21 Abraham Steyn, 22 Chris Smylie, 23 Simone Ragusi.
Edinburgh v Connacht (7.35pm)
Connacht have four new faces coming into the side, with Quinn Roux, Kieran Marmion, Danie Poolman and Nathan White coming into the side. Ireland tighthead prop White drew particular praise from coach Pat Lam.
"It's good to have some of our international boys back again this week, including Whitey who has performed really well for Ireland," said Lam.
"That extra experience will be important against a side like Edinburgh who we've always had close encounters with."
"There is consistency in the way Edinburgh play - they are very physical, very direct, and they are a settled team with a lot of experienced players. Murrayfield is always tough but they've really made it into a fortress now having only lost there once this season.
Edinburgh have Matt Scott, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne and Rory Sutherland returning from international duty and all three take their place in the starting XV.
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Damien Hoyland, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tom Brown, 10 Phil Burleigh, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 1 Rory Sutherland, 2 Neil Cochrane, 3 John Andress, 4 Anton Bresler, 5 Ben Toolis, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Cornell Du Preez.
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Alex Toolis, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Sam Beard, 23 Dougie Fife.
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Bundee Aki, 12 Craig Ronaldson, 11 Matt Healy, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 1 Denis Buckley, 2 Tom McCartney, 3 Nathan White, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Aly Muldowney, 6 Sean O'Brien, 7 Jake Heenan, 8 John Muldoon (c).
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Finlay Bealham, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Danny Qualter, 20 Eoin McKeon, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Peter Robb, 23 Fionn Carr.
Ulster v Zebre (7.35pm)
Director of Rugby Les Kiss has made four changes to the starting side that lost to Cardiff Blues last weekend.
There are three changed to the pack, all in the front row. In comes hooker Rob Herring who also takes up the captaincy for the clash. Herring is joined in the front row by incoming props Kyle McCall and Ricky Lutton.
Rory Scholes comes into the backline and is named on the right wing, with Craig Gilroy moving to full-back and Jacob Stockdale once again in the No 11 jersey.
With Sammy Arnold unavailable due to a hamstring injury, Stuart Olding switches from full-back to the midfield, where he pairs up with Luke Marshall.
Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Jackson continue their half-back partnership.
Ulster: 15 Craig Gilroy, 14 Rory Scholes, 13 Luke Marshall, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 1 Kyle McCall, 2 Rob Herring (c), 3 Ricky Lutton, 4 Peter Browne, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Robbie Diack, 7 Chris Henry, 8 Nick Williams.
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Callum Black, 18 Andy Warwick, 19 Roger Wilson, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Sam Windsor, 23 Darren Cave.
Zebre: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Kayle Van Zyl, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 1 Andrea De Marchi, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 3 Dario Chistolini, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 5 Marco Bortolami (c), 6 Emiliano Caffini, 7 Johan Meyer, 8 Federico Ruzza.
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Coria, 17 Guillermo Roan, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Filippo Cristiano, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Ulrich Beyers.
