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Provincial

Pro12 Cheat Sheet: Tough trips for Ulster and Connacht while Munster, Leinster come home

Our provinces are in league action against Italian and Welsh opposition, let’s get it done.

Zebre v Connacht

When: Tonight 7.05.

Where to watch: Live on TG4.

The story so far:

It was a disappointing season opener for Eric Elwood’s side as they fell to a Cardiff Blues side who ordinarily struggle at the Sportsground.

No tries scored and one very scrappy five-pointer conceded made for difficult viewing, but on the positive side: they managed to chip away at the scoreline through Miah Nikora penalties and claim a bonus point.

Zebre, after a heavy defeat to the Dragons last week, will bee very eager to lay down an early signal of intent in the franchise’s first ever home fixture in Stadio XXV Aprile, Parma.

Team news: Elwood has stuck with the same side who started the season, meaning Ireland u20 scrum half Kieran Marmion continues to partner Nikora. There are two changes on the bench, though with new signing Nathan White taking the place of Finlay Bealham and experienced ‘nine’ Frank Murphy stepping in for Dave Moore.

Connacht will need their wits about them, the Parma club promise to pack a punch as they are chock full of Italian internationals.

Zebre: S Sinoti; G Venditti, A Benettin, G Garcia (Capt.), S Pace, L Orquera, A Chillon:  S Perugini, C Festuccia, D Ryan; Q Guldenhuys, J Sole; F Cristiano, M Bergamasco, A van Schalwyk.

Replacements: D Glazzon, A de Marchi, L Redolfini, E Caffini, N Belardo, T Tepaldi, A Chiesa, R Trevisan.

Connacht: G Duffy (Capt.; T O’Halloran, E Griffin, M Fifita, F Vainikolo; M Nikora, K Marmion; D Buckley, E Reynecke, R Loughney; M Swift, M McCarthy; J Muldoon, J O’Connor, G Naoupu.

Replacements: A Flavin, R Ah You, N White, D Gannon, W Faloon, F Murphy, M Jarvis, R Henshaw.

Munster v Treviso

When: Tonight 8.0.

Where to watch: TG4 will show the full match deferred.

The story so far: Rob Penney could hardly have asked for a better start to the season, a hard fought and hugely entertaining win away to Edinburgh.

The same can be said for Treviso, though. The Italian outfit took yet another big scalp on home ground, this time the reigning champions, Ospreys.

Team news: Penney has made two changes for his home bow, swapping in Stephen Archer and Dave O’Callaghan in place of BJ Botha and Paddy Butler. Living legend Peter Stringer is on the bench, primed to make his return to Thomond after a short exile in England.

Franco Smith has rang the changes in the pack. All in all, half a dozen forwards have been culled from the win over Ospreys. Hooker Enrico Ceccato and flanker Simone Favaro are the only men retained, a sign Treviso are again focusing all their energy on home form.

By comparison, the back-line shuffled for the trip to Limerick is minor. Tommaso Iannone moves from centre to wing, his place is taken by Luca Morisi. Brendan Williams comes in to play fullback

Munster: D Hurley; D Howlett (Capt.) C Laulala, J Downey, L O’Dea; I Keatley, D Williams: W du Preez, D Varley, S Archer; D O’Callaghan, B Holland; D O’Callaghan, S Dougall, J Coughlan.

Replacements: M Sherry, D Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, D Foley, P Butler, P Stringer, S Deasy, I Dineen.

Benetton Treviso: B Williams; L Nitoglia, A Sgarbi, L Morisi, T Iannone; A Di Bernardo, E Gori: M Rizzo, E Ceccato, L Cittadini; A Pavanello (Capt), V Bernabo; S Favaro, D Budd, P Derbyshire.

Replacements: G Maistri, A De Marchi, I Fernandez-Rouyet, C Van Zyl, R Barbieri, A Zanni, F Semenzato, K Burton.

Leinster v Dragons

When: Saturday, 6.15.

Where to watch: RTE 2

The story so far: Joe Schmidt said this week that the early season is a time when “teams know we’re vulnerable” and Scarlets certainly exploited any weakness that was there. On top of the dozen internationals unavailable, Leinster also have nine players unavailable through injury. The much-vaunted academy is being tested to the hilt.

The Dragons are in fine form, a 40 minute performance was enough to put 34 points on Zebre last week, before a disjointed second half descended into farce when a mix-up between captain and kicker saw them take a shot at goal, despite leading 34-6 with 12 minutes remaining.

Darren Edwards will need a more clinical, 80 minute performance to take four points at the RDS.

Team news: Both coaches have made five changes for week two: Edwards has injury worries of his own (foremost the absence of Dan Lydiate) and he has made all his tweaks in the pack. Ian Nimmo, Toby Faletau and captain Jevon Groves the only survivors.

Two of Schmidt’s changes are enforced – with Isaac Boss and Dominic Ryan the latest to be added to the long-term injured list. But he also hands a debut to the bruising young South African, Quinn Roux. A man sure to make the RDS crowd ‘OOOH!’ with and without the ball.

Leinster: I Nacewa; A Conway, B Macken, N Reid, F Carr; I Madigan, J Cooney: J McGrath, S Cronin, J Hagan; L Cullen (Capt.) Q Roux; B Marshall, S Jennings, L Auva’a.

Replacements: T Sexton, H van der Merwe, M Moore, D Toner, J Murphy, L McGrath, C O’Shea, D Hudson.

Dragons: D Evans; W Harries, P Leach, A Tuilagi, T Prydie, S Jones; J Evans: N Williams, S Parry, N Buck; I Nimmo, A Jones; H Stoddart, J Groves (Capt.), Toby Faletau.

Replacements: H Gustafson, A Coundley, T Ryan, L Evans, T Brown, L Davies, A Smith, H Amos.

Big Nick Williams, wee Paddy Jackson and robust Robbie Diack get their bike on. ©INPHO/Presseye/William Cherry

Ospreys v Ulster

When: Saturday, 6.30.

Where to watch: If you have S4c you can get English commentary on the red button.

The story so far: Mark Anscombe, like his compatriot in the south, enjoyed a winning start to his Ravenhill role against Glasgow last weekend. The Ospreys, as mentioned above will be very keen on bouncing back after losing in Italy.

Team news: The former Blues coach has made three changes from the winning start. Niall O’Connor replaced the injured Paddy Jackson early on last Friday night and he will continue in that role, despite Jackson’s presence on the bench.

The side will be bolstered by the presence of two New Zealand tourists, Darren Cave and Declan Fitzpatrick. The names get even bigger on the bench: Stephen Ferris and Andrew Trimble togging out alongside John Afoa, Tom Court and Paul Marshall.

Ospreys have been able to recall most of their first choice stars for this home fixture and Ulster’s starlets will have to be at their best to contain the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Ashley Beck, Richard Fussell and Hanno Dirksen.

Ospreys: R Fussell; H Dirksen, A Bishop, A Beck, T Isaacs; M Morgan, R Webb: R Bevington, R Hibbard, A Jarvis; I Gough, AW Jones (Capt.) J King, J Tipuric, J Thomas.

Replacements: S Baldwin, D Jones, J Rees, G Stowers, J Bearman, K Fotuali’i, D Biggar, T Grabham.

Ulster: J Payne; C Gilroy, D Cave, L Marshall, M Allen; N O’Connor, M Heaney:  C Black, R Herring, D Fitzpatrick, J Muller (Capt.), L Stevenson, R Diack, S Doyle, N Williams.

Replacements: N Brady, T Court, J Afoa, N McComb, S Ferris, P Marshall, P Jackson, A Trimble.

Shuffling the pack: Schmidt makes five changes for Dragons clash

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