ROUND 1

The teams for this weekend's Round 1 fixture of the BKT United Rugby Championship have beennamed with all details of match officials and broadcast information below.

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

#BENvGLA

• Dewaldt Duvenage named as Benetton captain with Giacomo Da Re starting at No 10
• Kyle Steyn will captain Glasgow Warriors for first time in competitive match, also making his 50th appearance. Tom Jordan, Lucio Sordoni and Sintu Manjezi will make their debut

#ZEBvLEI

• David Sisi captains the Zebre Parma side which include four debuts in starting XV - RichardKriel, TiffEden, MJPelser and JacquesDu Toit
• Jason Jenkins and Charlie Ngatai start to make their Leinster debut. Rhys Ruddock captains the side

#LIOvBUL

• Emirates Lions sees the return of Springbok AndriesCoetzee. Marius Louw makes his official debut for the team

• Mihlali Mosi, S’bu Nkosi and Wandisile Simelane all named in Vodacom Bulls starting XV to make their debuts. David Kriel will start at inside centre.  

#CARvMUN

• British and Irish Lions Liam Williams and TaulupeFaletau are set for their Cardiff Rugby debuts
• Malakai Fekitoa will make his competitive Munster debut

#SCAvOSP

• Vaea Fifita to make URC debut for Scarlets
• Justin Tipuric returning as Captain for Ospreys. JackWalsh set to make his debut off the bench

#EDIvDRA

• Viliame ‘Bill’ Mata returns from injury making hisfirst start in nine months for Edinburgh Rugby
• Will Rowlands captains Dragons RFC for first time

#ULSvCON

• Alan O’Connor will captain the Ulster side while TomStewart will make his first senior start for the province
• Gavin Thornbury will captain Connacht for the firsttime with five uncapped players named in match-day squad

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

Benettonv Glasgow Warriors

Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 17.30 IRE & UK / 18.30 ITA &SA

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 64thleague game)

AR 1: Federico Vedovelli (FIR)  AR 2: Manuel Bottino (FIR)

TMO: Brian McNeice (IRFU)

Live on: Discovery +, Eurosport, Premier Sports, SuperSport,& URC.tv

Benetton: Rhyno Smith, EdoardoPadovani, Ignacio Brex, Joaquin Riera, Ignacio Mendy, Giacomo Da Re, DewaldtDuvenage (CAPT), Ivan Nemer, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Simone Ferrari, ScottScrafton, Federico Ruzza, Giovanni Pettinelli, Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone

Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, FedericoZani, Tiziano Pasquali, Niccolò Cannone, Michele Lamaro, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne,Marco Zanon, Mattia Bellini

Glasgow Warriors: Cole Forbes,Sebastian Cancelliere, Sione Tuipulotu, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Steyn (CAPT),Tom Jordan, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Fraser Brown, Lucio Sordoni, LewisBean, Richie Gray, Sintu Manjezi, Matt Fagerson, Jack Dempsey

Replacements: Johnny Matthews, OliKebble, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Rory Darge, Thomas Gordon, Ali Price,Duncan Weir

BenettonHead Coach Marco Bortolami said: “Thematch against will be immediately important. Our strength has always been tofocus on ourselves, aware of our strengths and it is on those that we need towork on. Physically we are well, against Edinburgh it was the most evidentaspect over the whole 80 minutes, at the end of a preseason is one of the mostimportant aspects. Having the chance to make the debut in the championship infront of our fans will be an extra incentive”

GlasgowWarriors Head Coach Franco Smith said:“We're all excited to get our season underway tomorrow evening in Treviso.The boys have all worked extremely hard throughout pre-season and tomorrowgives them the opportunity to show the results. Lucio, Sintu and Tom have allearned the opportunity to make their debut for the club tomorrow and we lookforward to seeing them make their mark in a Warriors jersey. Benetton are a fitattacking minded team who like to run the ball from everywhere and we'll needto be at our best tomorrow in Treviso.”

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

Zebre Parma v Leinster

Stadio Lanfranchi, Parma – KO 13.00  IRE & UK / 14.00 ITA & SA

Referee: Ben Blain (SRU, 21st league)

AR 1: Federico Boraso (FIR) AR 2: Dario Merli(FIR) 

TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)

Live on: Discovery +, RTÉ, PremierSports, SuperSport, & URC.tv

ZebreParma:  Richard Kriel, Pierre Bruno, Erich Cronjé,Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi, Tiff Eden, Chris Cook, Paolo Buonfiglio, JacquesDu Toit, Matteo Nocera, David Sisi (CAPT), Leonard Krumov, Luca Andreani, MJPelser, Taina Fox-Matamua

Replacements: Luca Bigi, JuanPitinari, Muhamed Hasa, Joshua Furno, Guido Volpi, Alessandro Fusco, FrancoSmith Jr, Jacopo Trulla

Leinster: Max O'Reilly, RobRussell, Jamie Osborne, Charlie Ngatai, Dave Kearney, Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath,Ed Byrne, Rónan Kelleher, Michael Ala'alatoa, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, RhysRuddock (CAPT), Scott Penny, Max Deegan

Replacements: John McKee, MichaelMilne, Vakhtang Abdaladze, Brian Deeny, Alex Soroka, Nick McCarthy, CiaránFrawley, Will Connors

ZebreParma Head Coach Fabio Roselli said:"We know that Leinster is one of the strongest teams in rugby in termsof culture, territory and ability. Having them at the start of the season isall the more reason to do well. We are preparing very well, on and off thefield. We want to become strong in the aerial battle. The conquest willdefinitely concern scrums and lineouts, but also the impact our forwards duringthe game. It will be a decisive moment: the biggest difficulty will be playingfrom the first to the 80th minute. We are preparing for this, we want to givestrong positive signals in terms of character and determination."

Emirates Lions v Vodacom Bulls

Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg – KO 15.05  IRE & UK / 16.05 ITA & SA

Referee: AJ Jacobs (SARU, 10th league game)

AR 1: Cwengile Jadezweni (SARU)  AR2: Griffin Colby (SARU) 

TMO: Marius van der Westhuisen (SARU)

Live on: SuperSport,Premier Sports & URC.tv

Emirates Lions: Andries Coetzee, Edwill van derMerwe, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Quan Horn, Jordan Hendrikse, Sti Sithole, PJBotha, Ruan Dreyer, Ruan Venter, Reinhard Nothnagel (CAPT), Sibusiso Sangweni, RuhanStraeuli, Franke Horn

Replacements: Jaco Visagie, JP Smith, RuanSmith, Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Emmanuel Tshituka, Sanele Nohamba, GianniLombard, Zander du Plessis

Vodacom Bulls: Wandisile Simelane, Cornal Hendricks, LionelMapoe, David Kriel, S’bu Nkosi, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; GerhardSteenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Mornay Smith, Walt Steenkamp, Ruan Nortje,Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Vermaak, Mihlali Mosi

Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Dylan Smith, FrancoisKlopper, Janko Swanepoel, Marco van Staden; Zak Burger, Morne Steyn, StedmanGans

Emirates LionsHead coach Ivan van Rooyen said: "We're quite excited about the team we've selected as we open ouraccount against the (Vodacom) Bulls this weekend. Pre-season was good for us asit gave us an opportunity reflect and plan for the season. We've closes tothree months connecting as a squad. I’m excited to see this team reach theirfull potential not only on Saturday but throughout the season. Jukskei Derbiesover the years have always produced incredible rugby and Saturday will be nodifferent. Fans are sure to be in for a spectacular day of rugby at EmiratesLions Park."

Vodacom BullsHead Coach Jake White said: “We havehad a great six weeks of pre-season training where we have worked on areas wefelt we needed to improve on from last season. This has also been a greatopportunity for our new recruits to acclimatise in their new environment. A lotof hard work went into the past few weeks and we are pleased with where we areahead of the start of the season. We now have a tough encounter against astrong Emirates Lions team that will want to begin their season campaign on apositive note. Even though we expect a slow start, given that it is the firstgame of the season, we are  lookingforward to the lads giving their all to set the tone for the rest of theseason.”

Cardiff Rugby v Munster

Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff – KO 15.05  IRE & UK / 16.05  ITA & SA

Referee: Mike Adamson(SRU, 63rd league game)

AR 1: Ben Breakspear (WRU) AR 2: Mike English(WRU)

TMO: SamGrove-White (SRU)

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

Cardiff Rugby: Liam Williams; Owen Lane, ReyLee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Josh Adams; Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré,Kristian Dacey, Dillon Lewis, Josh Turnbull (CAPT.), Seb Davies, James Botham,Thomas Young, Taulupe Faletau

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Rhys Barratt,Dmitri Arhip, Matthew Screech, Lopeti Timani, Lloyd Williams, Rhys Priestland,Uilisi Halaholo

Munster: Shane Daly, Calvin Nash, Chris Farrell, MalakaiFekitoa, Liam Coombes, Ben Healy, Paddy Patterson, Josh Wycherley, NiallScannell, Keynan Knox, Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley, Jack O'Donoghue (CAPT),Alex Kendellen, Jack O'Sullivan.              

Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Dave Kilcoyne,Roman Salanoa, Tom Ahern, John Hodnett, Neil Cronin, Jack Crowley, RoryScannell

Cardiff Rugby Director Of Rugby said: “Our newsignings have been fantastic. You can see their obvious quality in and aroundtraining and the fact that they have played in other top level environments.They will bring a something a little bit different both on and off the pitch. We'vebeen really pleased with what they have shown us so far and it would be greatfor them to really show what they can do in a Cardiff jersey come Saturday.”

“There has been a lot of hard work that’s gone intopre-season, trying new things and new combinations but the telling time is whenyou play that first game. You’re not going to get a better fixture to getexcited about than Munster at home. Since I've been here we've pushed themclose a couple of times and not actually got on the right side of the result.So it would be fantastic really. I expect us to be hugely competitive againstthem and we're at home and I'm confident we can get the result, as long as weplay something like we can play.”

Scarlets v Ospreys

Parc y Scarlets, Llanelli – KO 17.15 IRE & UK / 18.15ITA & SA

Referee: Adam Jones (WRU, 22nd league game)

AR 1:  Simon Rees (WRU)  AR 2: WayneDavies (WRU)

TMO: Sean Brickell (WRU)

Live on: PremierSports, SuperSport & URC.tv

Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl, Tom Rogers, Jonathan Davies, JohnnyWilliams, Ryan Conbeer; Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies, Steff Thomas, Ryan Elias, JavanSebastian, Vaea Fifita, Sam Lousi, Blade Thomson, Tomás Lezana, SioneKalamafoni

Replacements: Daf Hughes, Wyn Jones, HarriO’Connor, Tom Price, Josh Macleod, Kieran Hardy, Dan Jones, Corey Baldwin

Ospreys: Michael Collins, George North, Owen Watkin, JoeHawkins, Keelan Giles, Gareth Anscombe, Rhys Webb, Nicky Smith, Scott Baldwin,Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Jac Morgan, Justin Tipuric (CAPT),Morgan Morris

Replacements: Dewi Lake, Gareth Thomas, TomBotha, Rhys Davies, Will Griffiths, Reuben Morgan Williams, Jack Walsh, MaxNagy

Scarlets Head Coach Dwayne Peel said: “We haveworked hard in pre-season and are in a good place going into this game. Thelast time we played here (in BKT URC) against the Stormers, we had a decent crowd,it was an exciting game and we need more of that. We have a duty to put on ashow. If we can get a big crowd and support the guys, it will be fantastic.”

Ospreys Head Coach Toby Booth said: “We’reexpecting a very difficult, hard fought and emotional contest. We need to godown there and put our best foot forward, if we’re not at our best we’ll becoming second for sure. Ospreys haven’t won down there for a while so that’salso important. They’ve said they want to play entertaining rugby so we’regoing to need to be very good defensively. We understand the challenge but it’sone we’re looking forward to.”

EdinburghRugby v Dragons RFC

DAM HealthStadium, Edinburgh – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 25th league game)

AR 1: DavidSutherland (SRU) AR 2: Michael Todd (SRU)

TMO: Stefano Penne (FIR)

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

Edinburgh Rugby: Henry Immelman, Darcy Graham, MarkBennett, Chris Dean, Damien Hoyland, Charlie Savala, Ben Vellacott, Boan Venter,Dave Cherry, Angus Williams, Marshall Sykes, Glen Young, Jamie Ritchie (CAPT), LukeCrosbie, Viliame Mata

Replacements: Stuart McInally, PierreSchoeman, WP Nel, Sam Skinner, Nick Haining, Henry Pyrgos, Blair Kinghorn, JamesLang

Dragons RFC: Angus O’Brien, Rio Dyer, SioTomkinson, Jack Dixon, Jared Rosser, JJ Hanrahan, Rhodri Williams; Aki Seiuli,Bradley Roberts, Lloyd Fairbrother, Ben Carter, Will Rowlands (CAPT), SeanLonsdale, Ben Fry, Ross Moriarty

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Josh Reynolds,Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Taine Basham, Lewis Jones, Will Reed, JordanWilliams

Edinburgh Rugby Head Coach Mike Blair said: “We’rethrilled to be back home and we’re excited to kickstart the season in front ofthe Edinburgh supporters at DAM Health Stadium. The squad have all put in thehard yards throughout pre-season, gearing up for Round 1 of the competition,and now it’s time represent the city and show what it means to play for thisgreat club. We know Dragons will travel north with confidence. They’ve madesome savvy signings over the summer and have restructured their coaching team –they’ll feel rejuvenated as a squad, so we need be focused and ready to takethem on from the first whistle. The season opener is always exciting foreveryone – players, staff, sponsors and supporters. It’s a chance to get yourjourney off to the best possible start, and that’s what we intend to do onSaturday night.”

Dragons RFC Director Of Rugby Dean Ryan said: “Edinburghare a big test first up and Mike (Blair) did a great job last year. They wereat the top end of the table and caused a lot of problems for teams. I expectthem to build on that. They are probably one of the most difficult starts wecould get because we know how they can play. Playing on a plastic surface upthere is going to be something that's going to make the game faster. We've gotto go up there and get our game right.”

Ulster v Connacht

Kingspan Stadium, Belfast – KO 19.35 IRE & UK /20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU, 2nd league game)

AR 1: Chris Busby (IRFU) AR 2: Andrew Cole (IRFU)

TMO: Leo Colgan (IRFU)

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

Ulster: Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, Luke Marshall,Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak Eric O’Sullivan,Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (CAPT), Sam Carter, Matty Rea, MarcusRea, David McCann

Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, JeffToomaga-Allen, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jordi Murphy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis,and Aaron Sexton

Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran, Byron Ralston, Tom Farrell, TomDaly, John Porch, Conor Fitzgerald, Kieran Marmion, Peter Dooley, DaveHeffernan, Jack Aungier, Gavin Thornbury (CAPT), Leva Fifita, Josh Murphy, ConorOliver,  Paul Boyle

Replacements: . Dylan Tierney-Martin, DenisBuckley, Sam Illo, Niall Murray, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Caolin Blade, DavidHawkshaw, Oran McNulty

Ulster Head Coach Dan McFarland, said: “It’sinteresting to have an Interpro up first in the new season. The players arelooking forward to playing full-stop, but the Interpro element adds something alittle bit extra. From my point of view, it’s always a big one againstConnacht. We have the attitude that it’s a great opportunity for us to testwhat we’ve been doing in pre-season, given what they offer around their linespeed, relentless defence, and endless attack. Those are areas that are goingto test us.”

Connacht Director of Rugby Andy Friend said: “We’vehad a very positive pre-season and there’s now a huge sense of excitement amongthe group. There’s a genuine belief and optimism about what we can achieve in thisfirst block of games, which all starts in Belfast tomorrow night. Ulster are aquality side and our battles against them are always hard fought. We’re reallylooking forward going head-to-head with them in what should be a great seasonopener for us both.”