RaboDirect Pro12 round 7: preview and predictions

Dragons v Ulster
The Dragons have only made two changes from the side that lost to Bayonne last week.
Adam Jones replaces Ian Nimmo at lock while Jevon Groves comes in for last week’s captain Lewis Evans who is out with a groin injury.
Following his man-of-the-match display last week, Andy Tuilagi keeps his place and remains in the centre with Lewis Robling also keeps his place at No. 10 instead of Steffan Jones.
Ireland forgotten man Paul Marshall starts for Ulster as the Irishmen try to maintain their unbeaten start of the season.
Marshall inclusion at scrum-half will see Springbok Ruan Pienaar move to fly-half in place of Paddy Jackson, who is among the replacements.
Craig Gilroy, Lewis Stevenson and Declan Fitzpatrick also come in the starting XV for Jared Payne, Johann Muller and John Afoa at wing, lock and tighthead respectively.
To accommodate Gilroy, Tommy Bowe will line up at full-back as Payne gets a well earned rest after playing in every minute of Ulster’s campaign to date.
Dragons: Prydie; Harries, Hughes, Tuilagi, Chavhanga; Robling, J. Evans; O. Evans, Stev Jones (capt.), Buck; A. Jones, Sidoli; Brown, Groves, Faletau.
Replacements: Parry, Williams, Way, Nimmo, Cudd, Davies, Stef. Jones, Leach.
Ulster: Bowe; Trimble, Cave, Wallace, Gilroy; Pienaar, P. Marshall; Court, Best, Fitzpatrick; Stevenson, Tuohy; Henderson, Henry (capt.), Williams.
Replacements: Brady, Black, Afoa, McComish, Wilson, Jackson, L. Marshall, Payne.
Prediction: Rodney Parade is no easy place to travel but Irish side is a class above right now. It’ll be nine from nine after this one for the Ulstermen.
Edinburgh v Scarlets
Top try-scorer Tim Visser is back for Edinburgh as the Scottish side aim to get back to winning ways after to defeats in the Heineken Cup without scoring a single point.
To add to their woes, they lost five players to injury last week forcing them to make unwanted changes.
Chris Leck replaces the injured Gregor Hunter at scrum-half with Richie Rees on the bench while Matt Scott comes in the midfield for Ben Atiga who suffered a hamstring injury.
In the forwards, Willem Nel replaces the injured Geoff Cross at tighthead, Andy Titterrell will start at hooker, with Ross Ford available from the bench, and openside flanker Ross Rennie comes in alongside David Denton and Stuart McInally.
After two defeats in the Heineken Cup to arguably the best two teams in Europe (Clermont and Leinster), the Scarets will be looking to put the last couple behind them as they look to assert their place at the top of the table.
Jonathan Davies and Gareth Maule are both unavailable, so Nick Reynolds and Wales international Scott Williams will form the midfield partnership.
Argentinian international Tomás Vallejos gets his first start in a Scarlets jersey and Aled Thomas is handed the pivotal role at fly-half with Rhys Priestland on the bench.
New signing from the Ospreys Gareth Owen, who has returned from injury, gets his first opportunity for the Scarlets on the bench.
Edinburgh: Tonks; Jones, Scott, De Luca, Visser; Leonard, Leck; Yapp, Titterrell, Nel; Gilchrist, Cox (capt.); Denton, Rennie, McInally.
Replacements: Ford, Hislop, Allan, McAlpine, Grant, Rees, Houston, Brown.
Scarlets: L. Williams; North, Reynolds, S. Williams, Stoddart; Thomas, G. Davies; John, Rees; Lee; Timani, Vallejos; Shingler, Edwards, McCusker (capt.).
Replacements: Owens, Hopkins, Manu, Kelly, Murphy, A. Davies, Priestland, Owen.
Prediction: There has to be a reaction from Edinburgh on the back of five consecutive defeats but if the Scarlets can manage to take the scoreboard quickly, they might just do it.
Leinster v Cardiff Blues
David Kearney will make his 40th appearance for the Heineken Cup champions satrting his first game of the season replacing Isa Nacewa on the right wing as Leinster seek their fourth consecutive win.
Up front, New Ireland hooker Richardt Strauss gets the nod over Sean Cronin while Devin Toner will line-up alongside captain Leo Cullen as Damian Browne sits on the bench.
In the back row, Jamie Heaslip shifts back to his favourite position at No. 8 with Jordi Murphy comes in for Shane Jennings at openside.
Cardiff Blues head coach Phil Davies has made four changes to the team that lost to Toulon last week, their fourth consecutive defeat in all competition.
Dafydd Hewitt starts at centre in place of Gavin Evans who took a knock against the French side and Jason Tovey starts at fly-half in place of Ceri Sweeney who moves to the bench.
There are also two changes in the pack as tighthead Scott Andrews replaces Benoit Bourrust who left the field on Sunday with a calf injury while James Down gets the nod over Lou Reed at lock.
Leinster: Madigan; Kearney, O’Driscoll, D’Arcy, McFadden; Sexton, Reddan; Healy, Strauss, Ross; Cullen (capt.), Toner; McLaughlin, Murphy, Heaslip.
Replacements: Cronin, Van der Merwe, Hagan, Browne, Ruddock, Boss, Macken, Carr.
Cardiff Blues: Halfpenny; Cuthbert, Hewitt, Roberts, James; Tovey, L. Williams; Filise, Breeze, Andrews; Davies, Down; Navidi, Warburton, Pretorius (capt.).
Replacements: R. Williams, Trevett, Ma’afu, Reed, Copeland, Jones, Sweeney, T. Williams.
Prediction: It will be five from five for both teams after this one, another convincing wing for the Irish and another disappointing defeat for the Blues. 
Munster v Zebre
Five days after making his Heineken Cup debut off the bench for Munster, JJ Hanrahan will make his first senior start when Italian side Zebre visit Thomond Park tonight.
The 20-year-old has been named as centre and will partner to Casey Laulala in a Munster starting XV that shows nine changes from the one that started last Sunday.
Donnacha Ryan moves from blindside to lock in place of Paul O’Connell while Felix Jones starts ahead of Denis Hurley at full-back and Duncan Williams for Conor Murray at scrum-half.
Also in the the pack, Stephen Archer is in ahead of BJ Botha at tighthead and Paddy Butler now wears the No.8 jersey with Peter O’Mahony operating at blindside.
Meanwhile, Zebre head coach Christian Gajan has opted to rest three of the five internationals called up by Italy for the November internationals.
Lock Quintin Geldenhuys, flanker Mauro Bergamasco and wing Giovanbattista Venditti all sit out and are replaced by Josh Sole, Filippo Cristiano and Matteo Pratichetti.
Hooker Andrea Manici and wing David Odiete as set to make their starting debut for Italian minnows while Alberto Chiesa starts at fly-half with Luciano Orquera sitting on the bench.
Munster: Jones; O’Dea, Laulala, Hanrahan, Zebo; Keatley, Williams; Kilcoyne, Sherry, Archer; Do. O’Callaghan (capt.), Ryan; Da. O’Callaghan, O’Mahony, Butler.
Replacements: Varley, Horan, Botha; Holland, O’Donnell; Murray, Murphy, Hurley.
Zebre: Trevisan; Odiete, Garcia (capt.), Halangahu, Pratichetti; Chiesa, Martinelli; Perugini, Manici, Redolfini; Caffini, Sole; Ferrarini, Cristiano, Van Schalkwyk.
Replacements: Giazzon, Aguero, Ryan, Cazzola, Belardo, Tebaldi, Orquera, Sarto.
Prediction: Even with a few changes, hard to see past a bonus-point win for Munster.
Ospreys v Connacht
Connacht have made seven changes to their line-up for their return to Pro12 action against the Ospreys on Saturday.
Robbie Henshaw comes into the centre in place of the injured Eoin Griffin and Dave McSharry and 19-year-old Darragh Leader earns his first competitive start at full-back.
Up front, George Naoupu moves from his regular No.8 position to lock in place of injured Mike McCarthy so Eoin McKeon comes into the back row.
Brett Wilkinson replaces Denis Buckley to join captain Nathan White and Jason Harris-Wright, who earns his first competitive start of the season, in the front row.
Former Stormers man Danie Poolman could make his first appearance for Connacht from the bench.
The Ospreys backline remains unchanged as they look to bounce back from their disappointing Heineken result at Welford Road last weekend.
The Welsh region will be confident in the knowledge that they have won all eight of their last encounters with the Irish side.
Ospreys make two changes in the pack as blindside flanker Joe Bearman replaces Welsh international Ryan Jones and Aaron Jarvis comes in for Adam Jones at tighthead.
Ospreys: Fussell; Dirksen, Bishop, Beck, Walker; Biggar, Fotuali’i; Bevington, Hibbard, Jarvis;  Wyn-Jones (capt.), Evans; Bearman, Tipuric, Thomas.
Replacements: Dwyer, Jones, Rees, King, Stowers, Webb, Morgan, Isaacs.
Connacht: Leader; O’Halloran, Henshaw, Fifita, Vainikolo; Parks, Marmion; Wilkinson, Harris-Wright, White (capt.); Swift, Naoupu; Muldoon, Faloon, McKeon.
Replacements: Flavin, Loughney, Ah You, Gannon, O’Connor, Moore, Nikora, Poolman.
Prediction: Despite being without Ryan and Adam Jones, Ospreys have started to kick along nicely in recent weeks and they should go back to winning ways against a stuggling Connacht side.
Treviso v Glasgow
Treviso host Glasgow at the Stadio di Monigo on Saturday having won their last two Pro12 games against Scarlets and Edinburgh respectively.
Treviso have rung the changes to their side that narrowly lost to Toulouse in a Heineken Cup last weekend.
Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, Franco Sbaraglini and Pedro Di Santo replace Lorenzo Cittadini, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Michele Rizzo in the front row.
Manoa Vosawai moves from flank to No.8 in place of Robert Barbieri and Corniel Van Zyl returns as captain in the second row in place of Antonio Pavanello.
The only change in the back-line sees former Toulon wing Christian Loamanu replacing Giulio Toniolatti on the wing.
Glasgow will be confident they can get a result after winning all but one of their last six games on Italian soil.
Coach Gregor Townsend has made five changes to his starting side that sees Tommy Seymour return from suspension to start on the wing to replace the injured Byron McGuigan.
Stuart Hogg shifts to outside centre with Alex Dunbar comes in from the wing to partner him and Peter Murchie moves into the No.15 jersey.
In the forwards, Finlay Gillies replaces Dougie Hall at hooker and John Barclay replaces the rested Chris Fusaro at openside. Blindside flanker Rob Harley makes his first start since recovering from a knee injury.
Treviso: McLean; Loamanu, Benvenuti, Sgarbi, Iannone; Burton, Botes; Fernandez-Rouyet, Sbaraglini, Di Santo ; Minto, Van Zyl (capt.); Favaro, Zanni, Vosawai.
Replacements: Ghiraldini, Rizzo, Cittadini, Pavanello, Bernabò, Filippucci, Semenzato, Williams.
Glasgow: Murchie; Seymour, Hogg, Dunbar, Matawalu; Jackson, Pyrgos; Grant, Gillies, Cusack; Ryder, Kellock (capt.); Harley, Barclay, Wilson.
Replacements: Hall, Fainga’anuku, Reid, Swinson, Eddie, Wight, Nathan, Paris.
Prediction: The Italians are a tough cookie at home and after running Toulouse to the wire last week, I think they power up-front will be too much to handle for the Scots.