Friday's United Rugby Championship Teams

The teams for Friday's Round 5 fixtures of the United Rugby Championship have been named with all details of match officials and broadcast information below.

TEAM NEWS HEADLINES

#OSPvSTO

• Rhys Webb returns as Ospreys captain and Stephen Myler will make his first start of the season
• Last season’s top try-scorer, DHL Stormers Leolin Zas makes his return from injury as he is named in the starting XV

#CONvLEI

• Connacht make five changes to their match-day squad
• Jack Conan back in Leinster’s starting XV after pulling up in the warm up ahead of last weekend’s game in the RDS

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14

Ospreys v DHL Stormers

Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR, 18th league game)

AR 1: Aled Evans (WRU) AR 2: Carwyn Williams (WRU)

TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)

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

Ospreys: Max Nagy, George North, Owen Watkin, Michael Collins, Keelan Giles, Stephen Myler, Rhys Webb (CAPT), Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake, Tomas Francis, Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones, Ethan Roots, Jac Morgan, Morgan Morris

Replacements: Scott Baldwin, Rhys Henry, Tom Botha, Rhys Davies, Dan Lydiate, Reuben Morgan Williams, Jack Walsh, Luke Morgan

DHL Stormers: Clayton Blommetjies, Angelo Davids, Alapati Leuia, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Paul de Wet, Ali Vermaak, Andre-Hugo Venter, Neethling Fouche, Salmaan Moerat (CAPT), Marvin Orie, Nama Xaba, Hacjivah Dayimani, Evan Roos

Replacements: Joseph Dweba, Steven Kitshoff, Brok Harris, Ernst van Rhyn, Marcel Theunissen, Willie Engelbrecht, Godlen Masimla, Sacha Mngomezulu

Ospreys Head Coach Toby Booth said: “I’m on record of wanting to test our group whether that be the young players or the Internationals, we want to test what we’re trying to do against the best. Having the influence of the top South African teams in the competition means everyone must get better. Every week is an opportunity to mark where you are. We’re excited by the challenge of the Stormers. We have to defend well against them, and we did that well against Glasgow. We took our opportunities when they presented themselves and we know this Friday night will be a different challenge. We’re going against a team who like to be positive, they try to express themselves, good athletes and big collisions. It’ll be a big test for us but like all good teams your performances start and finish with your fundamentals so it’s up to us to decide how good we can be.”

DHL Stormers Head Coach John Dobson said: "Leolin was one of the stand-out players for us last season until he was injured in the semifinal, so to have him back in the team along with the likes of Clayton, Dan, Paul, Hacjivah, Nama and Marvin is exciting for us. Then of course to have players of Joseph and Steven's quality coming off the bench is also something we are looking forward to. It is a short turnaround this week playing on Friday night and we also lost a day travelling from Italy, so we are going to have to really lift ourselves against an Ospreys team which will be full of internationals having rested some of them last weekend."

Connacht v Leinster

The Sportsground, Galway – KO 19.35 IRE & UK / 20.35 ITA & SA

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU, 66th league game)

AR 1: Peter Martin (IRFU) AR 2: Oisin Quinn (IRFU)

TMO: Colin Stanley (IRFU)

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

Connacht: Conor Fitzgerald, John Porch, Byron Ralston, David Hawkshaw, Mack Hansen, Jack Carty (CAPT), Colm Reilly, Peter Dooley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Niall Murray, Gavin Thornbury, Josh Murphy, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Paul Boyle

Replacements: Grant Stewart, Denis Buckley, Jack Aungier, Oisín Dowling, Conor Oliver, Caolin Blade, Tom Daly, Ciaran Booth

Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien, Liam Turner, Garry Ringrose (CAPT), Charlie Ngatai, Rob Russell, Ross Byrne, Cormac Foley, Ed Byrne, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, James Ryan, Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan

Replacements: John McKee, Andrew Porter, Michael Ala'alatoa, Joe McCarthy, Martin Moloney, Nick McCarthy, Ciarán Frawley, Robbie Henshaw

Connacht Director of Rugby Andy Friend said: “Last Fridays victory over Munster saw a much improved overall performance by us that is far more aligned to what we know we’re capable of as a team. We now have to use that as a springboard for the rest of the season, and tomorrow is another brilliant opportunity to test ourselves against some of the best in Europe. The atmosphere at The Sportsground last week was incredible and I know that our supporters will give us the same again and more tomorrow night.”