There are three PRO14 matches taking place on Friday evening with Connacht hosting Edinburgh, Glasgow Warriors entertaining Zebre and the Cheetahs visiting the Dragons.
Connacht v Edinburgh
Connacht are boosted by the return of Irish international second-row Quinn Roux for this fixture at the Sportsground.
Bundee Aki, Kieran Marmion and Ultan Dillane are all rested after their involvement with Ireland’s Grand Slam winning Six Nations squad.
Flanker Eoin McKeon has also returned to the starting XV having been unavailable through injury since November. McKeon joins a back row that includes openside Jarrad Butler and Sean O’Brien at number eight.
Fly-half Jack Carty and scrum-half Caolin Blade continue their partnership which has been a regular feature over the past few weeks in Marmion’s absence.
Winger Niyi Adeolokun joins a back three that includes full-back Tiernan O’Halloran and Matt Healy. Healy became Connacht’s record try scorer after scoring twice against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
At the pre game Press Conference, Connacht backs coach Nigel Carolan told reporters that Edinburgh will bring a big challenge on Friday night. “They made life really difficult for Munster last Friday night," he said.
"They turned them over several times at the breakdown and that’s uncharacteristic for Munster.
“You can see that there’s a real bite to them, there’s a real high level of fitness and physicality. They’re a tough team to play against. They very direct and confrontational and they’re a tough team to break down. That’s where our biggest focus has been this week, particularly around the breakdown."
Meanwhile, Scotland international Darryl Marfo will make his long-awaited return from injury for Edinburgh in this match.
The inclusion of the loosehead prop is one of five changes made to the side that defeated Munster at Murrayfield last weekend as Edinburgh search for their sixth consecutive league victory.
Scotland star Blair Kinghorn returns to the starting XV following his scoring exploits in the Six Nations. The full-back is joined in the back-three by Dougie Fife and Duhan van der Merwe – with the latter grabbing a brace in last weekend’s win.
An unchanged midfield sees Chris Dean and Mark Bennett continue their burgeoning partnership, whilst at half-back, South African fly-half Jaco van der Walt is joined by Nathan Fowles.
Hooker Neil Cochrane packs down in a revamped front row alongside Scotland internationals Marfo and Simon Berghan, while Grant Gilchrist and Ben Toolis are named as the locks.
The industrious trio of Magnus Bradbury, John Hardie and Bill Mata are all named in an unchanged back row.
Elsewhere, Scotland international Cornell du Preez is named amongst the replacements and if involved the six-times Scotland capped number eight will make his 100th appearance for the club.
On his team selection, head coach Richard Cockerill, said: “We’re taking steps in the right direction. We’re working as hard as we can.
“Last week against Munster, I just wanted the boys to go out there and play as well as they could. The effort was just unbelievable, it’s where we want to be.
“We know how tough an opponent Connacht are – especially at home, where conditions aren’t always brilliant. But, we’re going there full of confidence that we can get a positive result.”
The teams:
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Tom Farrell, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Sean O'Brien, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Eoin McKeon, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Tom McCartney (c), 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Denis Coulson, 18 Dominic Robertson McCoy, 19 James Cannon, 20 Eoghan Masterson, 21 James Mitchell, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Darragh Leader
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Nathan Fowles, 8 Bill Mata, 7 John Hardie, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Neil Cochrane, 1 Darryl Marfo
Replacements: 16 Cameron Fenton, 17 Jordan Lay, 18 WP Nel, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Sean Kennedy, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Phil Burleigh
Date: Friday, March 23
Venue: The Sportsground
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Shane Kierans (Ireland)
TMO: Kevin Beggs (Ireland)
Glasgow Warriors v Zebre
After re-joining the club last week, DTH van der Merwe goes straight into the Glasgow Warriors' starting line-up for the game against Zebre at Scotstoun.
Callum Gibbins will make his first appearance since December and will captain the team. The flanker was voted McCrea Financial Services Warrior of the Month by supporters in his first two months at the club after arriving from the Hurricanes, but hasn’t played for more than three months after undergoing surgery on an Achilles injury.
Hooker George Turner also returns to the side after injuring his knee in January’s victory over Exeter Chiefs in the European Champions Cup.
Turner is joined in the front-row by loosehead Oli Kebble and Zander Fagerson is at tighthead, after coming off the bench for Scotland as they came from behind to defeat Italy in their final Six Nations game last weekend.
Also returning from international duty is Tim Swinson. He partners Scott Cummings in the second-row while Rob Harley and Matt Fagerson complete the pack alongside captain Gibbins.
Warriors’ all-time record try scorer, van der Merwe, starts alongside Lee Jones and Ruaridh Jackson in the back three.
Sam Johnson and Nick Grigg make up the midfield while Henry Pyrgos and Adam Hastings will pull the strings as half-back.
Jamie Bhatti and Peter Horne’s inclusion on the bench makes it a total of five players who are in the Warriors 23 that were involved for Scotland against Italy.
Lelia Masaga is also named amongst the replacements after recovering from a knee injury and is included in a Warriors squad for the first time since December.
Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie said: “We had a handful of guys due to return from injury against Ulster, Cully (Callum Gibbins) being one of them so he’s keen as. He’ll lead the side this week and we’ll be relying on his calm demeanour and for him to lead by example.
“It’s my first year here but by all accounts Zebre are a much better side than they have been in the past.
“They’ve got 22 points and have upset a lot of teams so far this season. They play a positive brand of footie and lead the comp in terms of offloads and line breaks. They’ve got some very dangerous personnel so we’ll be have to be at our best.”
For Zebre, boss Michael Bradley has made three changes for the visit to Scotland, with Edoardo Padovani starting at 15.
Italy international Carlo Canna takes the fly-half shirt while in the pack, the only alteration sees Eduardo Bello is at tighthead prop.
He is alongside Oliviero Fabiani and Cruze Ah-Nau as the visitors look to defeat the Warriors for the first time in 12 matches.
They have failed to overcome Glasgow in the previous 11 encounters and succumbed 40-20 in the reverse fixture in January.
The teams:
Glasgow: 15 Ruaridh Jackson, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Nick Grigg, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Callum Gibbins (c), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Siua Halanukonuka, 19 Kiran McDonald, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 George Horne, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Lelia Masaga
Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Gabriele Di Giulio, 13 Serafin Bordoli, 12 Faialaga Afamasaga, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani (c), 8 James Tucker, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 David Sisi, 3 Eduardo Bello, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Cruze Ah-Nau
Replacements: 16 Thomas D'Apice, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Jacopo Sarto, 21 Riccardo Raffaele, 22 Maicol Azzolini, 23 Rory Parata
Date: Friday, March 23
Venue: Scotstoun
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ian Davies, Adam Jones (Wales)
Dragons v Cheetahs
The Dragons return to Rodney Parade for their final home game of the season as they take on South African side the Cheetahs in the PRO14.
The Men from Newport returned to training following a seven-day break after their trip to South Africa where they lost out to Southern Kings.
Dragons Head Coach, Bernard Jackman has included Welsh Internationals Cory Hill, Elliot Dee and Hallam Amos in the changes he has made for this Friday’s clash.
Hallam Amos is named on the wing in the back three and joins Ashton Hewitt and South African full-back Zane Kirchner. The centre partnership is all change as Sam Beard and Connor Edwards get the nod whilst there are also changes in the half-backs as fly-half Arwel Robson and scrum-half Sarel Pretorius return to the starting XV.
The front row sees two changes made to it as hooker Elliot Dee returns alongside loosehead prop Sam Hobbs and tighthead prop Lloyd Fairbrother. Whilst skipper Cory Hill returns to join Joe Davies in the second row, and Harrison Keddie, Aaron Wainwright and Lewis Evans make up the back row.
The bench sees Ellis Shipp, Gerard Ellis, Dan Suter, Max Williams, Taine Basham, Dan Babos, Adam Warren and Jared Rosser all named.
Looking back at the Dragons previous game, Jackman commented: “We have looked at why the game got away from us and in fairness, the boys have been really positive following the week off. Following that we had a good week training ahead of the match.
“We have some older heads back with the likes of Hallam, Elliot and Cory as well as Sarel who is back in the team. This gives us a little bit more experience which is important particularly when you come back from a poor performance.
“We would like to think that there are areas in our game that we can challenge the Cheetahs. We have been watching them since Round 1 in the PRO14 so we know what they are about and we know that they have some very good players – we are well aware of their strengths.”
He continued; “It’s an important game in particular given the fact how we have played against Edinburgh and the Kings so we need to show some character. We want to finish our last game at Rodney Parade with our heads held high.”
Meanwhile, Cheetahs coach Rory Duncan has announced his team with some changes from last week. William Small-Smith is back in action after injury. He will be replacing Craig Barry who was on loan from the Stormers.
Niel Marais moves to inside centre, replacing the injured Nico Lee. Rabz Maxwano moves in to the starting line-up to replace Luther Obi who sustained an injury in the previous match.
Fred Zeilinga will be the starting fly half, while Zee Mkhabela moves to the bench with Tian Meyer as the starting scrum-half.
Finally, Oupa Mohoje will be wearing the number seven jersey with Henco Venter providing cover on the bench.
The Cheetahs are in need of adding to their recent win over Connacht in order to keep their Final Series challenge in good health. Dragons, however, will be eager to rebound from their recent loss to the Southern Kings.
This will be the Cheetahs’ first encounter with the Dragons.
“We’ve matured a lot as a side and our focus will be on what we need to do. We’ve have grown tremendously playing in European conditions,” said captain Francois Venter.
“The biggest lesson we’ve learned in PRO14 is to have control over the moment and to make a positive out of a negative on field.”
The teams:
Dragons: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Sam Beard, 12 Connor Edwards, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Arwel Robson, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Lewis Evans, 7 Aaron Wainwright, 6 Harrison Keddie, 5 Cory Hill (c), 4 Joe Davies, 3 Lloyd Fairbrother, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Sam Hobbs
Replacements: 16 Ellis Shipp, 17 Gerard Ellis, 18 Dan Suter, 19 Max Williams, 20 Taine Basham, 21 Dan Babos, 22 Adam Warren, 23 Jared Rosser
Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 Niel Marais, 11 Sibhale Maxano, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 AJ Coertzen
Date: Friday, March 23
Venue: Rodney Parade
Kick-off: 19:35 GMT
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse, Mike English (Wales)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)
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