Sam Gilbert and Connacht will be hoping for better fortunes on the road against Zebre. James Crombie/INPHO

Connacht make five changes as they bid to bounce back against Zebre

Connacht hoping to put Leinster defeat to bed with a win away to last-placed Zebre.

STUART LANCASTER MAKES five changes to his Connacht side for Saturday’s trip to face Zebre Parma in the United Rugby Championship [3pm, TG4, Premier Sports & URC.tv].

With Billy Bohan, Darragh Murray and Cian Prendergast away on Six Nations duty with Ireland, Jordan Duggan, Joe Joyce and Sean O’Brien all come into the pack, while Jack Aungier replaces the injured Sam Illo at tighthead.

Chay Mullins starts on the left wing in the only change in the backs, replacing Finn Treacy, with Academy trio Matthew Victory, Fiachna Barrett and Sean Naughton named among a 6-2 bench split.

Lancaster said: “We’re obviously missing the lads away on Ireland duty but overall we’ve been able to keep selection relatively consistent these last few weeks, particularly in the backs.

“It’s been a long stretch of games but we’ll do everything we can to finish it on a high and hopefully head into the next block of games with a spring in our step.”

Zebre Parma

15. Giovanni Montemauri
14. Mirko Belloni
13. Giulio Bertaccini
12. Marco Zanon
11. Simone Gesi
10. Martin Roger Farias
9. Gonzalo Garcia

1. Paolo Buonfiglio
2. Giampietro Ribaldi
3. Enrique Pieretto
4. Matteo Canali
5. Leonard Krumov (capt)
6. Giacomo Ferrari
7. Iacopo Bianchi
8. Davide Ruggeri

Replacements:

16. Shilo Klein
17. Luca Franceschetto
18. Juan Pitinari
19. Franco Carrera
20. Alessandro Ortombina
21. Thomas Dominguez
22. Enrico Lucchin
23. Bautista Stavile

Connacht Rugby

15. Sam Gilbert
14. Shane Jennings
13. Harry West
12. Cathal Forde
11. Chay Mullins
10. Josh Ioane
9. Caolin Blade

1. Jordan Duggan
2. Dylan Tierney-Martin
3. Jack Aungier
4. Josh Murphy
5. Joe Joyce
6. Paul Boyle (capt)
7. Sean O’Brien
8. Sean Jansen

Replacements:

16. Matthew Victory
17. Peter Dooley
18. Fiachna Barrett
19. David O’Connor
20. Niall Murray
21. Ben Murphy
22. Sean Naughton
23. Oisín McCormack

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