ROUND 3

The teams for Friday night's Round 3 fixtures of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship have beennamed with all details of match officials and broadcast information below.

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

#BULvCON

• Vodacom Bulls welcome back in form Springboks,Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Sbu Nkosi to the starting XV
• David Hawkshaw handed his first Connacht start atout-half

#CARvLIO

• Lopeti Timani will make his first start for Cardiff Rugby
• Pieter Jansen Van Vuren makes his first start ofthe season for Emirates Lions

#ULSvLEI

• Luke Marshall set to hit the 150 cap milestone for Ulsterthis weekend
• Garry Ringrose set to captain the Leinster side with Johnny Sexton named on the bench

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

Vodacom Bullsv Connacht

Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria – KO 17.30 IRE & UK/ 18.30 ITA & SA

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 26th league game)

AR 1: Cwengile Jadezweni (SARU) AR 2: Griffin Colby (SARU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

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

Vodacom Bulls: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel, Sbu Nkosi, JohanGoosen, Zak Burger, Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Francois Klopper, WaltSteenkamp, Ruan Nortje, Marcel Coetzee (CAPT), Marco van Staden, Elrigh Louw

Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, SimphiweMatanzima, Mornay Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Reinhardt Ludwig, Embrose Papier, ChrisSmith, Lionel Mapoe

Connacht: Oran McNulty, John Porch, Tom Farrell, Tom Daly, MackHansen, David Hawkshaw, Kieran Marmion, Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, FinlayBealham, Leva Fifita, Oisín Dowling, Josh Murphy, Conor Oliver, Jarrad Butler (CAPT)

Replacements: Grant Stewart, Peter Dooley, JackAungier, Gavin Thornbury, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Colm Reilly, Byron Ralston, CiaránBooth

Vodacom Bulls Director Of Rugby Jake White said: “It’s alwaysnice having Springboks come back, especially when they are looking as good asCanan and Kurt-Lee. Sbu didn’t get a run out for the Boks but his confidencewill still be high having been part of the group. I have no doubt that he israring to go, and this is his chance. Connacht is a dangerous team. We saw thatin the last competition when they gave us a good smack in Galway. A lot haschanged since then, and we know what we have to do this weekend.”

Connacht Director Of Rugby Andy Friend said: “Whilstour first two performances have been disappointing and below our ownexpectations, the mood within the team remains positive.  Everyone has been working really hard to ironout some the issues that have hindered us in the opening rounds, and we’reexcited about the opportunity that the Bulls present. All five players whojoined us post the Stormers match have proven to be great additions for us,especially our Team Captain Jack Carty. It’s been fantastic to have him back trainingwith us for the first time this season, and he’s on target for selection in thenot too distant future.”

Cardiff Rugby v Emirates Lions

Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff – KO 19.35 IRE & UK/ 20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU, 26th league game)

AR 1: Craig Evans (WRU) AR 2: CarwynWilliams (WRU)

TMO: Ben Blain (SRU)

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

Cardiff Rugby:Rhys Priestland, Aled Summerhill, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, TheoCabango, Jarrod Evans, Tomos Williams, Brad Thyer, Liam Belcher, Dillon Lewis,Lopeti Timani, Seb Davies, Josh Turnbull (CAPT), James Botham, Taulupe Faletau

Replacements: KirbyMyhill, Corey Domachowski, Dmitri Arhip, Rory Thornton, Shane Lewis-Hughes,Lloyd Williams, Mason Grady, Uilisi Halaholo

EmiratesLions: Andries Coetzee, Edwill van der Merwe, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, QuanHorn, Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba, Sti Sithole, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, PieterJansen van Vuren, Reinhard Nothnagel (CAPT), Sibusiso Sangweni, EmmanuelTshituka, Francke Horn

Replacements: Jaco Visagie,JP Smith, Ruan Smith, Ruan Venter, Ruhan Straeuli, Morne van den Berg, JordanHendrikse, Zander du Plessis

Cardiff RugbyDirector Of Rugby Dai Young said: “We’re looking forward to getting back to the ArmsPark. We didn’t build on the Munster game last week so hopefully we can bounceback at home against a very good Lions team. It’s going to be a real good gamewith lots of rugby to be played by both teams. It should be a lot ofentertainment for the people that come to watch. We love playing at the ArmsPark and want to give our home crowd the kind of performance they deserve. Wehave made a few changes due to injury but we have still have a strong squad andif we can get back to the kind of performance we saw against Munster and buildon that, there is no reason why we can’t get the result we want.”

Emirates LionsDefence Coach Jaque Fourie said: “The Welsh sides pride themselves withbig forward packs coupled with backline players who enjoy throwing the ballaround. Cardiff Rugby will be no different this Friday as I’m sure they willcome with a heavy pack and nippy backline players who can take the ball wide.In saying that, we have done our homework on them and prepared well in theweek.”

Ulster v Leinster

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

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU, 81st league game)

AR 1: Eoghan Cross(IRFU) AR 2: Andrew Cole (IRFU)

TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)

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

Ulster: Michael Lowry, Aaron Sexton, Luke Marshall, StuartMcCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Andy Warwick, RobHerring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (CAPT), Kieran Treadwell, Matty Rea, MarcusRea, Nick Timoney

Replacements: John Andrew, Eric O’Sullivan,Marty Moore, Sam Carter, Greg Jones, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, Ben Moxham

Leinster: Jimmy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (CAPT),Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Ross Byrne, Luke McGrath, Andrew Porter, DanSheehan, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird, Josh vander Flier, Jack Conan

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Ed Byrne, VakhtangAbdaladze, James Ryan, Will Connors, Nick McCarthy, Johnny Sexton, CharlieNgatai

Ulster Head Coach Dan McFarland said: “It’s one ofthe biggest games of the year, if not, the biggest game of the year in terms ofinterest, and the fact that it’s a home game for us. Leinster is a team thatplays really good rugby, and they will test us both sides of the ball. We’vebeen tested a fair bit in different ways over the last two rounds, but Leinsterbring an all-round game that will test all aspects of our game. It will be agood barometer, and I look forward to seeing how we go.”