URC Round 2 Teams and Fixtures

The teams for Round 2 fixtures of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship have been named with all details of match officials and broadcast information below.

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

#OSPvZEB

• The Ospreys will be celebrating Justin Tipuric’s 200^th appearance in this game, which he picked up against Connacht last week, and on the bench Nicky Smith returns following his World Cup campaign with Wales.
• Manfredi, Rizzoli and Neculai on their first call-up of the season for Zebre Parma. South African lock Dylan De Leeuw and Giovanni Montemauri are making their first official appearance.

#CONvGLA

• Connacht have opted to bring in full-back Tiernan O’Halloran for his first appearance of the season, while Niall Murray is handed a start after coming off the bench last week.
• Glasgow make four changes from the team that beat Leinster in R1 – Rowe, Horne, Gray and Vailanu all come in to starting XV and, Gray and Vailanu make first appearances since returning from RWC

#STOvSCA

• Courtnall Skosan set to make his DHL Stormers debut off the bench and Ben Loader makes his first start, with Paul de Wet, Hacjivah Dayimani, Adre Smith and Ali Vermaak making their first starts of the season.
• Two changes to starting pack for Scarlets and Jonathan Davies captains his side.

#LEIvSHAR

• Max Deegan is set to make is 100th appearance for Leinster, as Leo Cullen makes five changes from the team that lost to Glasgow Warriors last weekend.
• Aphiwe Dyantyi on the bench set to make his debut for the Hollywoodbets Sharks, along with Francois Hougaard whose experience will be called on when he too plays his first game for the Sharks.

#EDIvLIO

• Edinburgh Rugby welcome the return of six internationalists to its matchday squad.
• Ruan Venter and Henco van Wyk return to the Emirates Lions starting XV and Hanru Sirgel could make his Lions debut as an impact player.

#BENvMUN

• Eli Snyman to captain Benetton.
• Two changes to the Munster starting XV which lined out against the Sharks in Round 1 and new signing Sean O’Brien is set for his Munster debut from the bench.

#DRAvCAR

• Wales international Dan Lydiate makes his return for Dragons RFC and Lock Ben Carter will also make his 50th appearance for Dragons.
• Cardiff will welcome back a trio of Rugby World Cup stars.

#ULSvBUL

• Tom O’Toole returns to Ulster from international duty, and Jude Postlethwaite and Dave Ewers make their first home starts.
• Hendricks and Smith the only changes for the Vodacom Bulls in Round 2. Director of Rugby, Jake White has opted for a 5-3 split.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28

Ospreys v Zebre Parma

Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea – KO 13.00 IRE & UK / 14.00 ITA & SA

Referee: Ian Kenny (debut)

AR 1: Gareth Newman  AR 2: Gwyn Morris

TMO: Dave Sutherland

Live on: BBC Wales, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, FloRugby & URC.tv

Ospreys: Max Nagy, Luke Morgan, Dom Morris, Owen Watkin, Mat Protheroe, Jack Walsh, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Garyn Phillips, Ethan Lewis,  Tom Botha, Rhys Davies, Huw Sutton, James Ratti, Justin Tipuric (CAPT), Morgan Morris

Replacements: Lewis Lloyd, Nicky Smith, Rhys Henry, James Fender, Harri Deaves, Luke Davies, Keiran Williams, Owen Williams

Head Coach, Toby Booth, said:  “The most difficult thing about this game will be matching their power. It’s a different puzzle than it has been before, but it definitely looks like a more robust one.

“Richard Hodges is at Zebre now so there will be different defensive problems to solve, but we’ll be looking to replicate our play in the second half of the last game to find a way through those problems.”

Zebre Parma:

Lorenzo Pani, Pierre Bruno, Franco Smith Jr, Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi, Geronimo Prisciantelli, Gonzalo Garcia, Paolo Buonfiglio, Luca Bigi, Juan Pitinari, David Sisi, Andrea Zambonin, Guido Volpi, Giacomo Ferrari, Giovanni Licata (CAPT)

Replacements: Marco Manfredi, Luca Rizzoli, Ion Neculai, Dylan de Leeuw, Bautista Stavile, Alessandro Fusco, Giovanni Montemauri, Scott Gregory

Talking about the match the Head coach Fabio Roselli said: “We face the challenge with Ospreys with a greater maturity than last week; we have a clear game plan to put them pressure and build our chances. During the week the team has shown focus and the ability to confidently execute the strategy built against an opponent we know is physical. We expect a tough game, also considering the weather conditions, with Zebre called upon to be stronger and more effective defensively”.

Connacht v Glasgow Warriors

The Sportsground, Galway – KO 15.00 IRE & UK / 16.00 ITA & SA

Referee: Adam Jones

AR 1: Padraic Reidy  AR 2: Sam Holt

TMO: Jon Mason

Live on: TG4, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, FloRugby & URC.tv

Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran, Byron Ralston, Tom Farrell, Cathal Forde, Diarmuid Kilgallen, JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (CAPT), Denis Buckley, Dylan Tierney-Martin, Jack Aungier, Niall Murray, Joe Joyce, Cian Prendergast,  Shamus Hurley-Langton, Jarrad Butler (115)

Replacements: Tadgh McElroy, Peter Dooley, Dominic Robertson-McCoy, Darragh Murray, Oisín Dowling, Colm Reilly, Liam McNamara, Conor Oliver

Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins says: “We stressed the importance of starting the season well last week, so it was great that the lads could back that up with a bonus point win. That said there were a lot of areas we can look to improve, and building on that performance will be important against what will be a strong Glasgow side, who had a good win themselves last week.

We’re hoping to have another great crowd behind us, and since both teams like to attack and play positive rugby it should be an exciting one to watch as well.”

Glasgow Warriors: Josh McKay, Kyle Rowe, Huw Jones, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Steyn (CAPT), Tom Jordan, George Horne; Oli Kebble, Angus Fraser, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Richie Gray, Gregor Brown, Sione Vailanu, Henco Venter.

Replacements: Johnny Matthews, Nathan McBeth, Lucio Sordoni, Greg Peterson, Ally Miller, Rory Darge, Jamie Dobie, Duncan Weir.

Glasgow Warriors Head Coach Franco Smith said: “We’re looking forward to this weekends challenge – we’re keen to take the learnings from last weekend and our experiences from last season to build on our performance.

“Connacht play an enterprising brand of rugby and are capable of causing the best defences problems, and will defending a proud home record in Galway.

“Our preparations this week have been focused on what we need to do to reach the level we want to reach – this is only week two of the season and it is important that we keep building.”

DHL Stormers v Scarlets

Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch – KO 15.00 IRE & UK / 16.00 ITA & SA

Referee: Sam Grove-White

AR 1: Griffin Colby AR 2: Christopher Allison

TMO: Mike Adamson

Live on: SuperSport, S4C, Viaplay, Premier Sports, FloRugby & URC.tv

DHL Stormers: Warrick Gelant, Ben Loader, Ruhan Nel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Leolin Zas, Clayton Blommetjies, Paul de Wet, Ali Vermaak, Joseph Dweba, Neethling Fouche (CAPT), Adre Smith, Ruben van Heerden, Marcel Theunissen, Hacjivah Dayimani, Evan Roos.

Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Sti Sithole, Brok Harris, Gary Porter, Ben-Jason Dixon, Nama Xaba, Herschel Jantjies, Courtnall Skosan.

DHL Stormers Head Coach John Dobson said that his side want to make the most of the chance to play at home before they leave on a four-week tour.

“We have a good record in Stellenbosch, with three wins from three there in the last two seasons and we want to take some momentum with us on our tour up north.

“There are some exciting players that have come into the starting line-up this week, but we have largely kept the core of the team together, so hopefully we can see an improvement on last week’s performance.

“We are looking forward to playing in front of our fans in what is a rugby-mad town, it should be a great day out in Stellenbosch,” he said.

Scarlets: Johnny McNIcholl, Tom Rogers, Joe Roberts, Jonathan Davies (CAPT), Ryan Conbeer; Ioan Lloyd, Kieran Hardy; Kemsley Mathias, Shaun Evans, Sam Wainwright, Alex Craig, Morgan Jones, Taine Plumtree, Dan Davis, Carwyn Tuipulotu.

Replacements: Isaac Young, Wyn Jones, Harri O’Connor, Jac Price, Ben Williams, Archie Hughes, Charlie Titcombe, Eddie James.

Scarlets Head coach Dwayne Peel said: “We have another massive challenge playing against a side that has reached the final the last two years. They are similar to the Bulls in some ways in that when they get on top of you they are very physical and they keep the gainline. From a backs perspective, they are very sharp out wide, they want to play expansive rugby and they are razor sharp on turnover ball. It’s going to be another big challenge for us on South African soil. We have to improve for this week.”

Leinster v Hollywoodbets Sharks

RDS Arena, Dublin – KO 16.55 IRE & UK / 17.55 ITA & SA

Referee: Federico Vedovelli

AR 1: Joy Neville  AR 2: Paul Haycock

TMO: Stefano Roscini

Live on: RTÉ, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, FloRugby & URC.tv

Leinster:  Ciarán Frawley, Tommy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai, Jordan Larmour, Harry Byrne, Cormac Foley, Jack Boyle, Lee Barron, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, Rhys Ruddock, Scott Penny (CAPT), Max Deegan

Replacements: Dylan Donnellan, Paddy McCarthy, Rory McGuire, Brian Deeny, Will Connors, Ben Murphy, Sam Prendergast, Rob Russell

Hollywoodbets Sharks: Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Francois Venter (CAPT), Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Marnus Potgieter, Curwin Bosch, Cameron Wright, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren,  Hanro Jacobs, Corne Rahl, Emile van Heerden, James Venter, Vincent Tshituka, Phepsi Buthelezi

Replacements: Dylan Richardson, Dian Bleuler,  Khwezi Mona, Hyron Andrews, George Cronje, Francois Hougaard, Boeta Chamberlain, Aphiwe Dyantyi

Edinburgh Rugby v Emirates Lions

Hive Stadium, Edinburgh – KO 17.00 IRE & UK / 18.00 ITA & SA

Referee: Chris Busby

AR 1: Jonny Perriam  AR 2: Rob McDowell

TMO: Colin Stanley

Live on: Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport FloRugby & URC.tv

Edinburgh Rugby: Blair Kinghorn, Ross McCann, Mark Bennett, Matt Currie, Wes Goosen, Ben Healy, Ben Vellacott (CAPT), Boan Venter, Dave Cherry, Javan Sebastian, Glen Young, Grant Gilchrist, Luke Crosbie, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata

Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Robin Hislop, WP Nel, Marshall Sykes, Connor Boyle, Charlie Shiel, Cammy Scott, Chris Dean,

Edinburgh Rugby Senior Coach Sean Everitt said: “We’re delighted to welcome back a number of internationalists to our matchday squad, they add further strength and experience as we take on a hugely competitive Emirates Lions side.

“We’re really excited to get back to Hive Stadium after opening the Championship on the road and it will be brilliant to be back in front of the Edinburgh supporters – they really do provide us with an energy and a spark.

“Although we weren’t altogether pleased with last weekend’s performance, we showed plenty of physicality and resilience to come away with a hard-fought win away from home.

“We’ll need to repeat those levels of physicality tomorrow night if we’re to come out on top – it’s set to be a massive night of rugby at Hive Stadium.”

Emirates Lions: Quan Horn, Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw (CAPT),  Edwill van der Merwe, Jordan Hendrikse, Sanele Nohamba, Corne Fourie, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Ruben Schoeman, Darrien-Lane Landsberg, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruan Venter, Francke Horn

Replacements : Jaco Visagie, Morgan Naude, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Willem Alberts, Hanru Sirgel, Morne van den Berg, Rynardt Jonker, Andries Coetzee

Emirates lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen said:  “I’m really excited about the group we have going into this 4-week tour. I feel we’ve gone with a dynamic mix of players who can go physical and where needs be, have the option to select players to speed the game up.

“We are expecting strong line-ups from all four teams we will be facing with a couple of their internationals reporting back for club duty. Pitch conditions are something we are also familiar with in that there will be a combination of grass and artificial surfaces over the next four weeks.”

“We’ve learnt a lot from this past weekend. We played with good intensity and when we were physically dominant in certain parts of the game, we had the makings of a championship team. Unfortunately, there were moments where we were inconsistent and that for us is a big work on ahead of Saturday and the rest of the tour,” he concluded.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29

Benetton v Munster

Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 14.00 IRE & UK / 15.00 ITA / 16.00 SA

Referee: Morne Ferreira

AR 1: Andrea Piardi  AR 2: Alex Frasson

TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen

Live on: Sky Italia, RTÉ,  Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, FloRugby & URC.tv

Benetton: Rhyno Smith, Ignacio Mendy, Malakai Fekitoa, Filippo Drago, Edoardo Padovani, Jacob Umaga, Andy Uren, Mirco Spagnolo, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Giosué Zilocchi, Edoardo Iachizzi, Eli Snyman (CAPT), Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Toa Halafihi

Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Federico Zani, Tiziano Pasquali, Gideon Koegelenberg, Henry Time-Stowers, Alessandro Garbisi, Tomas Albornoz, Marco Zanon

Benetton Head Coach Marco Bortolami: “Munster is probably the fittest European team at the moment and they also showed it in the victory against the Sharks. Munster has a fairly clear playing identity, they are strong with their forwards and are very disciplined tactically. So we have to prepare it very well from this point of view too”

Munster: Shane Daly, Shay McCarthy, Antoine Frisch, Rory Scannell, Calvin Nash; Joey Carbery, Ethan Coughlan; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, Stephen Archer; Edwin Edogbo, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O’Donoghue (CAPT), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.

Replacements: Scott Buckley, Kieran Ryan, John Ryan, Tom Ahern, Alex Kendellen, Paddy Patterson, Alex Nankivell, Sean O’Brien.

Dragons RFC v Cardiff Rugby

Rodney Parade, Newport – KO 14.30  IRE & UK / 15.30 ITA / 16.30 SA

Referee: Frank Murphy

AR 1: Elgan Williams  AR 2: Ben Connor

TMO: Mark Patton

Live on: Viaplay, SuperSport, Premier Sports, FloRugby & URC.tv

Dragons RFC: Jordan Williams, Jared Rosser, Sio Tomkinson, Steff Hughes (CAPT), Ashton Hewitt, Angus O’Brien, Dane Blacker; Rodrigo Martinez, Bradley Roberts, Lloyd Fairbrother, Matthew Screech, Ben Carter, Sean Lonsdale, Harri Keddie, Dan Lydiate

Replacements: James Benjamin, Rhodri Jones, Leon Brown, Joe Davies, George Nott, Rhodri Williams, Will Reed, Jack Dixon

Dragons Head Coach Dai Flanagan said: “We’re looking forward to the derby. The disappointment around the opening game is still raw and we need to use that emotion.

“I think if you ask anyone associated with Dragons over the last few years about this game, performance doesn’t matter. It’s about winning. But to win we need to play well.

“Cardiff are an impressive side. They’ve had three games now and they’ve got their own style of play under Matt Sherratt.

“They are a little bit more direct with the big kicking game. They average 35 kicks per game and they are doing that for a reason – they want to win.

Cardiff Rugby: C Winnett; A Summerhill, M Grady, W Halaholo, T Cabango; T de Beer, T Williams; C Domachowski, L Belcher (CAPT), K Assiratti, S Lewis-Hughes, T Williams, A Mann, E Jenkins, S Davies.

Replacements: E Daniel, R Carré, R Litterick, R Thornton, T Young, E Bevan, B Thomas, H Millard

Cardiff Rugby head coach Matt Sherratt said: “The international boys have been great. I spoke to them last week and they were all excited to come back in. They wanted to make themselves available and wanted to play.

“They have trained well this week and there is absolutely no doubt about their quality. It gives us a real boost just having them back in the building but we also have a bit more depth now.

“It promises to be a great occasion at Rodney Parade on Sunday. The Dragons are a quality side, who will be determined to get the derby bragging rights.

“A lot of the recent fixtures between the two teams have come down to one score and I expect similar on Sunday. It will be a tight affair, a typical derby but we will also go with a willingness to play some good rugby if conditions permit.”

Ulster v Vodacom Bulls

Kingspan Stadium, Belfast – KO 17.00  IRE & UK / 18.00 ITA / 19.00 SA

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi

AR 1: Andrew Cole  AR 2: Robbie Jenkinson

TMO: Stefano Roscini

Live on: BBC NI, TG4, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, FloRugby & URC.tv

Ulster: Andy Warwick, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (CAPT)), Kieran Treadwell, Dave Ewers, Dave McCann, Nick Timoney; Will Addison, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak.

Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Greg McGrath, Cormac Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, Dave Shanahan, Stewart Moore, Mike Lowry.

Ulster’s Assistant Coach, Dan Soper, says the Bulls will be a challenging test at home adding:

“The Bulls are a big and powerful team that plays with ferocity, they are fast and dangerous. It will be a challenge but we’re all excited about being back at home and playing in front of our supporters.”

Vodacom Bulls: Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw, Ruan Vermaak, Ruan Nortje (CO-CAPT), Marcell Coetzee (CO-CAPT), Elrigh Louw, Cameron Hanekom, Embrose Papier, Johan Goosen, Stravino Jacobs, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel, Sebastian de Klerk, Devon Williams

Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Simphiwe Matanzima, Mornay Smith, Reinhardt Ludwig, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Chris Smith, Stedman Gans