United Rugby Championship Round 3 Team Announcements

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

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

#BULvCON

• 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 at out-half

#CARvLIO

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

#ULSvLEI

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

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

Vodacom Bulls v 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, Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Francois Klopper, Walt Steenkamp, Ruan Nortje, Marcel Coetzee (CAPT), Marco van Staden, Elrigh Louw

Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Mornay Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Reinhardt Ludwig, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Lionel Mapoe

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

Replacements: Grant Stewart, Peter Dooley, Jack Aungier, Gavin Thornbury, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Colm Reilly, Byron Ralston, Ciarán Booth

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

Connacht Director Of Rugby Andy Friend said: “Whilst our first two performances have been disappointing and below our own expectations, the mood within the team remains positive.  Everyone has been working really hard to iron out some the issues that have hindered us in the opening rounds, and we’re excited about the opportunity that the Bulls present. All five players who joined 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 training with us for the first time this season, and he’s on target for selection in the not 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: Carwyn Williams (WRU)

TMO: Ben Blain (SRU)

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

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

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

Emirates Lions: Andries Coetzee, Edwill van der Merwe, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Quan Horn, Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba, Sti Sithole, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Reinhard Nothnagel (CAPT), Sibusiso Sangweni, Emmanuel Tshituka, Francke Horn

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

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

Emirates Lions Defence Coach Jaque Fourie said: “The Welsh sides pride themselves with big forward packs coupled with backline players who enjoy throwing the ball around. Cardiff Rugby will be no different this Friday as I’m sure they will come 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 the week.”

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, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney, Andy Warwick, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (CAPT), Kieran Treadwell, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, 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, Dan Sheehan, Michael Ala’alatoa, Ross Molony, Jason Jenkins, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Ed Byrne, Vakhtang Abdaladze, James Ryan, Will Connors, Nick McCarthy, Johnny Sexton, Charlie Ngatai

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