FRAWLEY AND BYRNE ARE IN
CIARAN FRAWLEY and Ross Byrne are the only Ireland Six Nations squad members in the Leinster match-day squad for tonight’s game at Zebre.
Frawley was a oneminute sub in France, made his Six Nations starting debut against Wales and, coming on a sub against England, picked up a concussion that saw him miss Scotland. Byrne did not feature but was with the wider squad.
“I kind of enjoyed analysing for the game this week,” says Leinster’s Jacques Nienaber for what he thinks could be a prickly encounter on the back of Italy’s buoyant Six Nations campaign.
“Italy attacked and defended really well, pushed France hard, beat Scotland and Wales so they got some results – and if you think back now, they were maybe right there at the end pushing England for a result.
“The perceived gap that there was between Italian clubs and the other clubs in the URC in Europe, or Italy versus the other countries in the Six Nations, is closing considerably.”
Roadkill
“I don’t think you can currently look at Italy rugby or and say ‘okay, we are just playing Zebre’ or ‘we are just playing Benetton from Treviso’.
While Zebre might have been considered ‘roadkill’ for the last few years they have been competitive this term; witness a win, a draw, three games picking up both a fourtry plus a losing bonus point and a further five coming away with one point.
“I think the main thing is just to keep it within our reality, I mean Zebre is the game right now,” continues Nienaber.
“If you start looking too far ahead, to Leicester who we are playing in the Champions Cup Round of 16 the following week and then if we do progress it will be either the Stormers or La Rochelle in the quarter-final.”
Connacht have made five changes to the side that beat Scarlets three weeks ago, all in the pack – Denis Buckley, Tadgh McElroy, Joe Joyce, Conor Oliver and Sean O’Brien coming in.
Says Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins: “The Lions are getting stronger with every year in this competition and they are one of the strongest South African sides away from home. We are fully aware of the challenge ahead, and the need for us to be at the top of our game to get the win.”
Iain Henderson captains the Ulster side at Sharks while Tom O’Toole and Stuart McCloskey return from Ireland duty to start. SHARKS (v Ulster): A Fassi; E Keyter, L Am capt, E Hooker, M Mapimpi; S Masuka, J Hendriks; N Mchunu, B Mbonambi, H Jacobs, E Etzebeth, G Grobler, P Buthelezi, V Tshituka, G Cronje, Subs; K van Vuuren, O Nche, V Koch, C Rahl, J Labuschagne, C Wright, C Bosch, F Venter.
ULSTER: W Addison; E McIlroy, J Hume, S McCloskey, M Lowry; B Burns, J Cooney; S Kitshoff, T Stewart, T O’Toole, K Treadwell, I Henderson capt, H Sheridan, D McCann, N Timoney. Subs: J Andrew, A Warwick, S Wilson, C Izuchukwu, M Rea, N Doak, J Postlethwaite, S Reffell.
CONNACHT (v Emirates Lions): T O’Halloran; B Ralston, D Hawkshaw, C Forde, A Smith; JJ Hanrahan, C Blade capt; D Buckley, T McElroy, J Aungier, N Murray, J Joyce, C Prendergast, C Oliver, S O’Brien. Subs: D Heffernan, J Duggan, S Illo, D Murray, S Hurley-Langton, C Reilly, J Carty, P Boyle.
LIONS: Q Horn; R Kriel, E
Cronje, M Louw capt, E van der Merwe; J Hendrikse, S
Nohamba; JP Smith, PJ Botha, A Ntlabakanye, E Oosthuizen, R Nothnagel, JC Pretorius, E Tshituka, F Horn. Subs: J Visagie, M Naude, C van Vuuren, D Landsberg, I Esterhuizen, H Sirgel, M van den Berg, S Pienaar Zebre.
PARMA (v Leinster, Stadio Lanfranchi): J Trulla; S Gregory, L Morisi, F Paea, S Gesi; G Prisciantelli, G Garcia; M Hasa, G Ribaldi, J Pitinari, D Sisi, L Krumov, D Ruggeri, I Bianchi, G Licata capt. Subs: T Di Bartolomeo, L Rizzoli, R Genovese, M Canali, J Kaifa, A Fusco, D Mazza, P Bruno. LEINSTER: C Frawley; R Russell, L Turner, J Osborne, A Osborne; R Byrne, L McGrath; E Byrne, L Barron, T Clarkson, R Molony, J Jenkins, W Connors, S Penny capt, M Deegan. Subs: J McKee, M Milne, M Ala’alatoa, B Deeny, D Mangan, F Gunne, S Prendergast, H McErlean.