Anthony Foley has warned Keith Earls will have a battle to reclaim his place in the Munster side after naming the Ireland international in the replacements for the Pro12 clash against bottom-of-the-table Zebre today.

Zebre 3 Leinster 20

Change is the order of the day for Leinster in Stadio XXV Aprile this afternoon, as the defending champions make 10 alterations to their starting line-up for the Guinness Pro12 encounter against Zebre (kick-off 3pm, Irish time).

Anthony Foley’s bid to make home advantage finally count at Thomond Park tonight will not be hindered by the return of Munster big guns Paul O’Connell and Conor Murray as the Reds welcome Zebre to Limerick for Guinness Pro12 round three (7:30pm).

RABO DIRECT PRO12:

Connacht 25 Zebre 16

Pat Lam has a hard act to follow when his Connacht team take to the field in today’s Rabodirect Pro 12 opener against Italian visitors Zebre (5pm).

RABODIRECT PRO12

Zebre 22 Leinster 41

RABODIRECT PRO12

Connacht 23 Zebre 19

Failure to manage a bonus point in last weekend’s loss to Harlequins has made it mathematically impossible to catch pool runners-up Biarritz, but pride and a third Heineken Cup win are at stake for Connacht this evening.

IRELAND will get one last shot at redemption when they take on Italy in the final outing of the U18 Six Nations Festival at Cork Institute of Technology today (2.30pm).