ROUND 2

The teams for Friday night's Round 2 fixtures of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship have beennamed with all details of match officials and broadcast information below.

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

#ZEBvSHA

• Zebre Parma make two changes in the starting XV with Luca Bigi and IonNeculai named
• Rohan Janse van Rensburg makes his URC debut for CellC Sharks

#GLAvCAR

• JP Du Preez in line for Glasgow Warriors debut afterbeing named on bench
• James Ratti makes a return to Cardiff Rugby’s startingline-up

#LEIvBEN

• Garry Ringrose to captain the Leinster side with sixIrish internationals named in the pack
• Toa Halafihi to start for Benetton with Michele Lamaro leading the side out on the day

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

Zebre Parma vCell C Sharks

Stadio Lanfranchi, Parma – KO 17.30 IRE & UK / 18.30ITA & SA

Referee: Craig Evans (WRU, 34th league game)

AR 1: Federico Vedovelli (FIR) AR 2: Dante D'elia (FIR)

TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

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

Zebre Parma: Richard Kriel, Pierre Bruno,Erich Cronjé, Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi, Tiff Eden, Chris Cook, PaoloBuonfiglio, Luca Bigi, Ion Neculai, David Sisi (CAPT), Leonard Krumov, LucaAndreani, MJ Pelser, Taina Fox-Matamua

Replacements:Giampietro Ribaldi, Juan Pitinari, Muhamed Hasa, JoshuaFurno, Gabriele Venditti, Alessandro Fusco, Franco Smith Jr, Jacopo Trulla

Cell C Sharks: Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, BenTapuai, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Thaakir Abrahams, Boeta Chamerlain, GrantWilliams, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Thomas du Toit (CAPT), GerbrandtGrobler, Reniel Hugo, James Venter, Dylan Richardson, Phepsi Buthelezi

Replacements:Dan Jooste, Dian Bleuler, Carlu Sadie, JustinBasson, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Cameron Wright, Fred Zeilinga, Marnus Potgieter

Zebre Parma Head Coach Fabio Roselli said: "Thematch against (Cell C) Sharks is another good opportunity to tell somethingabout Zebre Parma and our ambitions. The biggest challenge will be in terms ofcollision, scrum and drive. We should be able to not concede penalties like wedid at the start of the game last week against Leinster. It's a good challengebut as usual we are looking forward to it."

Cell C Sharks Head Coach Sean Everitt said: “We’re happyto make amends from our start last year, all the South African teams struggledbut we’re coming in with a bit more experience, we know what’s coming our wayas far as the opposition is concerned. It’s not like last year when we weregoing into the unknown. Zebre (Parma) will be a tough nut to crack at home. Theyput on a good performance against Leinster last weekend [going down 33-29] andI don’t think anyone would have believed the game would be so close; they werepretty unfortunate not to get the result. We’re under no illusions as to whatwe’re facing on Friday night and we know this competition is unforgiving assome of the teams found out in the first weekend’s action. Preparations havegone well, apart from the injuries picked up by Curwin Bosch and Lionel Cronje,but Boeta showed enough in those pre-season friendlies against the Lions andStormers that he’s ready to take over the number 10 jersey. We as a group arereally excited about the challenge ahead and can’t wait for Friday night’sgame.”

Glasgow Warriors v Cardiff Rugby

Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow – KO 19.35 IRE & UK/ 20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU, 23rd league game)

AR 1: Finlay Brown(SRU) AR 2: Ru Campbell (SRU)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

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

GlasgowWarriors: Cole Forbes, Sebastian Cancelliere, Sione Tuipulotu, Stafford McDowall,Kyle Steyn (CAPT), Tom Jordan, George Horne; Jamie Bhatti, Fraser Brown, ZanderFagerson, Scott Cummings, Richie Gray, Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey

Replacements: George Turner,Oli Kebble, Lucio Sordoni, JP du Preez, Sintu Manjezi, Thomas Gordon, AliPrice, Domingo Miotti

Cardiff Rugby:Matthew Morgan, Aled Summerhill, Mason Grady, Max Llewellyn, Josh Adams,Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams, Rhys Carré, Kristian Dacey, Dillon Lewis, JoshTurnbull (CAPT), Seb Davies, James Botham, Thomas Young, James Ratti

Replacements: Liam Belcher,Brad Thyer, Keiron Assiratti, Matthew Screech, Lopeti Timani, Lloyd Williams,Rhys Priestland, Uilisi Halaholo

GlasgowWarriors Head Coach Franco Smith said: “It’s been almost six monthssince the squad have played in front of their home crowd and everyone has beenfighting hard to earn the chance to run out at Scotstoun on Friday night. Lastweekend’s game was not how we wanted to start our season; however, it has givenus valuable insight into what our players have taken away from pre-season andour new game plan. We have challenged the players to be brave this Friday, andbegin writing our own story going forward.”

CardiffRugby Director Of Rugby Dai Young said: “We have made a fewchanges, either due to injury or to look after players who are a bit batteredand bruised following a big effort last week. It’s important to manage theseguys to ensure we get plenty from them through the season, and we have somequality coming in to replace them. We haven’t done well away and that issomething we have to put right quickly. There were a lot of good things on theweekend, and if we can build on them then there’s no reason why we can’t be inwith a chance of getting a result here. It’s Glasgow’s first home game in awhile, under a new coach as well, but last week didn’t go to plan. So they’llbe desperate to get a performance in and get their season up-and-running. Weknow they’re a quality team, and listening to some of the talk after the game,they were more pleased with the second half than they were with the first. Inthe second half they demonstrated that they’re a team who want to play rugbyfrom all areas of the pitch, and that’s what we expect. We’re going to have tobe on our toes defensively right across the pitch because they’ll look toattack from anywhere and really take us on.”

Leinster vBenetton

RDS Arena,Dublin – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Jaco Peyper (SARU, 11th league game)

AR 1: Paul Haycock(IRFU) AR 2: Andrew Fogarty (IRFU)

TMO: Ian Davies (WRU)

Live on: TG4, Discovery +, Premier Sports,SuperSport & URC.tv

Leinster: Jimmy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (CAPT),Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Ciarán Frawley, Luke McGrath, AndrewPorter, Dan Sheehan, Michael Ala’alatoa, James Ryan, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird,Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Ed Byrne, CianHealy, Ross Molony, Will Connors, Cormac Foley, Ross Byrne, Charlie Ngatai

Benetton: Ignacio Mendy, Mattia Bellini, Joaquin Riera, MarcoZanon, Onisi Ratave, Giacomo Da Re, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Ivan Nemer, GiacomoNicotera, Simone Ferrari, Niccolò Cannone, Scott Scrafton, Giovanni Pettinelli,Michele Lamaro (CAPT), Toa Halafihi

Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Federico Zani, Filippo Alongi, CarlWegner, Henry Time-Stowers, Manfredi Albanese, Tommaso Menoncello, RatuvaTavuyara

Benetton Head Coach Marco Bortolami said: “Leinsterare a team that moves the ball and plays in wide open spaces so the aspect ofplacing well on the pitch will be crucial. This weekend we will have to take astep forward in growth, maintaining consistency in the static phases thatallows us to manage the game as we want. Playing away from home we will have tofind the same motivation and energy we had against Glasgow (Warriors), knowingthat it will be a game in which we will have to show tenacity and put all ourstrength on the pitch.”