Before kick-starting their Pool 2 campaign in the newly-formed European Rugby Champions Cup, this Saturday’s trip to Italy for a Pro12 encounter against Zebre presents Leinster with an ideal opportunity to bounce back from their disappointing Aviva Stadium defeat to Munster.

Matt O'Connor welcomes back the experienced duo of Mike McCarthy and Jordi Murphy for Leinster's game against Zebre on Sunday.

Zebre 25 Munster 27

Recent performances in the Heineken Cup excepted, it has been a poor campaign by Munster’s exalted standards and it will be a whole lot worse should they become the first team to lose to Zebre in their last match of the season at the Stadio XXV Aprile in Parma this evening.

Head coach Rob Penney has named a strong team for Munster’s final RaboDirect PRO 12 match of the season tomorrow night.

Having been sidelined since October with a back problem, Munster second row Paul O’Connell returns to the starting team for the RaboDirect PRO12 interprovincial showdown against Connacht at Musgrave Park on Saturday (5.45pm).

By Ian Cusack

Ulster head coach Mark Anscombe has admitted his team were lucky to come away from Italy with a win when they overcame Zebre 27-25 at the Stadio XXV Aprile yesterday.

Half-backs Michael Heaney and Niall O’Connor have been included in the starting line up for Ulster’s RaboDirect PRO12 showdown with Zebre at the Stadio XXV Aprile on Sunday (2pm Irish time).

With a number of players on International duty, Ulster head coach Mark Anscombe has taken the opportunity to include some fresh faces in his provisional squad for Sunday's re-arranged RaboDirect PRO12 game against Zebre at the Stadio XXV Aprile (2pm).

Zebre 10 Connacht 19

Connacht head coach Eric Elwood has made four changes to his pack for his team’s Heineken Cup Round 1 meeting with Zebre at the Stadio XXV Aprile on Saturday (2.35pm).

Connacht coach Eric Elwood is expected to shuffle his pack for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup opener against Zebre in Italy.

Zebre 16 Ospreys 34

The RaboDirect PRO12 fourth round game between Zebre and Ulster that was postponed following the tragic death of Ulster player, Nevin Spence, has been rescheduled for Sunday November 18.

IRELAND’S U20 team will launch its Six Nations title defence against Italy in Parma tomorrow night (6pm) with captain Niall Annett one of five surviving players from last year’s championship winning side amongst the squad members.