Friday's PRO12 team news: Rugby World Cup stars return

A host of players return from World Cup duty in Friday's Guinness PRO12 fixtures, with early frontrunners Scarlets and Munster colliding at Parc y Scarlets.

Scarlets v Munster (7.05pm)

Scarlets welcome back four Wales internationals as they seek a ninth successive PRO12 victory.

Ken Owens, Samson Lee and Jake Ball are all named in the pack with Gareth Davies among the replacements.

Aaron Shingler misses out with concussion so Lewis Rawlins returns to the back row.

Munster make eight changes to the team that defeated Cardiff Blues last week, with openside Jordan Coghlan handed his first competitive start.

Robin Copeland moves into the second row while Cathal Sheridan and Tyler Bleyendaal come in at half-back.

Denis Hurley makes his first start of the season with academy duo David Johnston and Stephen Fitzgerald also named in the backline.

Scarlets: 15 Aled Thomas, 14 Hadleigh Parkes, 13 Regan King, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Steven Shingler, 9 Rhodri Williams; 1 Rob Evans, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Jake Ball, 5 Tom Price, 6 Lewis Rawlins, 7 James Davies, 8 John Barclay (c).

Replacements: 16 Emyr Phillips, 17 Phil John, 18 Peter Edwards, 19 George Earle, 20 Jack Condy, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Tom Williams.

Munster: 15 Andrew Conway, 14 Stephen Fitzgerald, 13 David Johnston, 12 Denis Hurley, 11 Gerhard van den Heever, 10 Tyler Bleyendaal, 9 Cathal Sheridan; 1 Dave Kilcoyne, 2 Duncan Casey, 3 BJ Botha, 4 Robin Copeland, 5 Mark Chisholm, 6 Dave O'Callaghan, 7 Jordan Coghlan, 8 CJ Stander (c).

Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 James Cronin, 18 John Ryan, 19 Dave Foley, 20 Shane Buckley, 21 Tomás O'Leary, 22 Ian Keatley, 23 Ronan O'Mahony.

Newport Gwent Dragons v Benetton Treviso (7.15pm)

Former Dragon Adam Hughes makes his return at centre after joining from Exeter Chiefs on a three-month loan deal.

Luc Jones partners Jason Tovey at half-back while Matthew Screech and Cory Hill come into the second row.

Treviso are on an 11-game losing streak and have not won outside of Italy since a 41-17 success at the Scarlets in May 2013.

Dragons: 15 Carl Meyer, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Nick Scott, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Luc Jones; 1 Boris Stankovich, 2 Elliot Dee, 3 Brok Harris, 4 Matthew Screech, 5 Cory Hill, 6 Lewis Evans (c), 7 Nic Cudd, 8 Ed Jackson.

Replacements: 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Rynard Landman, 20 Ollie Griffiths, 21 Sarel Pretorius, 22 Dorian Jones, 23 Charlie Davies.

Treviso: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Enrico Bacchin, 11 Simone Ragusi, 10 Luke McLean, 9 Chris Smylie; 1 Matteo Zanusso, 2 Davide Giazzon (c), 3 Rupert Harden, 4 Marco Fuser, 5 Tom Palmer, 6 Francesco Minto, 7 Dean Budd, 8 Braam Steyn.

Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Teofilo Paulo, 20 Jeff Montauriol, 21 Robert Barbieri, 22 Alberto Lucchese, 23 Andrea Pratichetti.

Ulster v Cardiff Blues (7.35pm)

Ireland duo Paddy Jackson and Darren Cave have been named on the bench as Ulster head coach Neil Doak makes two changes to his starting XV.

Fly-half Ian Humphreys makes his first start of the season after featuring as a replacement in last week's loss to Edinburgh, with Lewis Stevenson coming in for the concussed Dan Tuohy at lock.

USA back-row Cam Dolan makes his Cardiff debut with captain Josh Navidi returning at No 8 as the Blues attempt to avoid a clean sweep of defeats to Irish provinces.

Aled Summerhil starts on the wing while centre Adam Thomas comes in for his first start of the campaign. Wales U20 fly-half Jarrod Evans could make his Blues bow after being named on the bench.

Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Craig Gilroy, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Paul Marshall; 1 Callum Black, 2 Rob Herring (c), 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Roger Wilson, 7 Sean Reidy, 8 Nick Williams.

Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Andrew Warwick, 18 Ricky Lutton, 19 Peter Browne, 20 Willie Faloon, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Darren Cave.

Cardiff Blues: 15 Dan Fish, 14 Aled Summerhill, 13 Tom Isaacs, 12 Adam Thomas, 11 Richard Smith, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Tavis Knoyle; 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Matthew Rees, 3 Craig Mitchell, 4 Lou Reed, 5 James Down, 6 Cam Dolan, 7 Josh Turnbull, 8 Josh Navidi (c).

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Thomas Davies, 18 Taufa'ao Filise, 19 Chris Dicomidis, 20 Macauley Cook, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Garyn Smith.

Leinster v Glasgow Warriors (7.45pm, live on Sky Sports 2)

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen makes seven changes to the starting XV that lost at Scarlets, with Rhys Ruddock named in the back row after coming off the bench in Ireland's World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina.

Mike McCarthy returns at lock alongside Ross Molony while Ben Te'o and Jack Conan have shaken off calf and ankle knocks respectively.

Live PRO12 Rugby Union

Italy openside Simone Favaro makes his first start for Glasgow, having come off the bench to score a bonus point-clinching try against the Dragons last week.

Six Scotland players return to the Warriors' squad including fly-half Duncan Weir and Sean Lamont, who is named at full-back.

Leinster: 15 Isa Nacewa (c), 14 Garry Ringrose, 13 Ben Te'o, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Fergus McFadden, 10 Cathal Marsh, 9 Luke McGrath; 1 Michael Bent, 2 Aaron Dundon, 3 Marty Moore, 4 Ross Molony, 5 Mike McCarthy, 6 Rhys Ruddock, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Jack Conan.

Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Dominic Ryan, 20 Daniel Leavy, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Cian Kelleher.

Glasgow Warriors: 15 Sean Lamont, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13 Richie Vernon, 12 Fraser Lyle, 11 Rory Hughes, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Mike Blair; 1 Alex Allan, 2 Pat MacArthur, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Tim Swinson, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Rob Harley (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 8 Ryan Wilson.

Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 Mike Cusack, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Adam Ashe, 21 Hugh Blake, 22 Grayson Hart, 23 Rory Clegg.