French outfit Oyonnax are braced to make their debut in Europe's premier club competition on Saturday after a sixth-place finish in the French Top 14 last season.
The visitors to the French Alps are Ulster, last year's GUINNESS PRO12 semi-finalists, fresh from ending a barren run on the road just last weekend with victory at Newport Gwent Dragons.
Oyonnax may not be a familiar foe but Ulster fans will recognise a handful of their opponents on Saturday - including Pedrie Wannenburg, who helped the Belfast-based province to the final of this competition in 2012.
Prop Stan Wright was a two-time champion with Leinster, while Tongan prop Soane Tonga'uiha reached the final with Northampton Saints in 2011 and Welsh fly-half Nicky Robinson went to the semi-finals with Cardiff Blues two years earlier.
Add to that experienced lock George Robson - a summer signing from Harlequins - and former All Blacks scrum-half Piri Weepu and Ulster will have their hands full.
However, their preparations have been hit by the dismissal of head coach Olivier Azam, who paid the price for a slow start to the league season, less than 48 hours before kick-off.
Saturday November 14, kick-off 1pm UK/Ire
OYONNAX: Florian Denos, Silvere Tian, Vincent Martin, Eamonn Sheridan, Fetu'u Vainikolo, Regis Lespinas, Fabien Cibray, Laurent Delboulbès, Jody Jenneker, Marc Clerc, George Robson, Fabrice Metz, Valentin Ursache, Viliami Ma'afu, Olivier Missoup
Replacements: Jeremie Maurouard, Soane Tonga'uiha, Antoine Guillamon, Leon Power, Pierrick Gunther, Pedrie Wannenburg, Piri Weepu, Nicky Robinson
ULSTER: Peter Nelson, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy, Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; Kyle McCall, Rory Best, Ricky Lutton, Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Nick Williams;
Replacements: Callum Black, Rob Herring, Wiehahn Herbst, Lewis Stevenson, Sean Reidy, Dave Shanahan, Ian Humphreys, Louis Ludik.
Ulster are not the only GUINNESS PRO12 side, however, facing a testing trip to France on Saturday.
Glasgow Warriors kick off their campaign against Racing 92, who were denied a place in last year's semi-finals by a single point, losing 12-11 to Premiership champions Saracens.
The good news for Gregor Townsend's men is that their hosts no longer boast Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton, following his move to Leinster, while his replacement - World Cup winner Dan Carter - does not link up with the club until next month.
They will also be without Argentina winger Juan Imhoff, Italian prop Martin Castrogiovanni and Welsh scrum-half Mike Phillips but a star-studded squad means Racing are not short of quality.
Saturday November 14, kick-off 3:15pm UK/Ire
RACING 92: Johan Goosen, Joe Rokocoko, Marc Andreu, Henry Chavancy, Alexandre Dumoulin, Remi Tales, Maxime Machenaud, Eddy Ben Arous, Camille Chat, Ben Tamiefuna, Luke Charteris, Francois van der Merwe, Wenceslas Lauret, Bernard Le Roux, Chris Masoe
Replacements: Dimitri Szarzewski, Julien Brugnaut, Cedate Gomes Sa, Thibault Dubarry, Yannick Nyanga, Xavier Chauveau, Benjamin Dambielle, Casey Laulala
GLASGOW WARRIORS: Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour, Mark Bennett, Peter Horne, Sean Lamont, Finn Russell, Mike Blair, Ryan Grant, Pat MacArthur, Sila Puafisi, Leone Nakarawa, Jonny Gray, Rob Harley, Simone Favaro, Josh Strauss
Replacements: Shalva Mamukashvili, Gordon Reid, Zander Fagerson, Tim Swinson, Ryan Wilson, Grayson Hart, Richie Vernon, Taqele Naiyaravoro
There is an all-GUINNESS PRO12 clash on Saturday, too, when Munster host Benetton Treviso.
The Irish province know they must improve on last season's Champions Cup efforts, when they were knocked out at the pool stage for just the second time in 17 seasons.
For Treviso, meanwhile, the search for a first victory of the season goes on after defeat at Connacht last time out kept them at the foot of the GUINNESS PRO12 table.
Saturday November 14, kick-off 5:15pm UK/Ire
MUNSTER: Andrew Conway; Keith Earls, Francis Saili, Denis Hurley, Simon Zebo; Ian Keatley, Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Mike Sherry, BJ Botha; Donnacha Ryan, Mark Chisholm; Dave O'Callaghan, Jack O'Donoghue, CJ Stander
Replacements: Duncan Casey, James Cronin, John Ryan, Dave Foley, Robin Copeland, Tomás O'Leary, Rory Scannell, Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino
BENETTON TREVISO: Luke McLean, Ludovico Nitoglia, Jayden Hayward, Enrico Bacchin, Tommaso Iannone, James Ambrosini, Edoardo Gori, Abraham Steyn, Alessandro Zanni, Francesco Minto, Jeff Montauriol, Duncan Naudé, Rupert Harden, Ornel Gega, Matteo Zanusso
Replacements: Davide Giazzon, Matteo Muccignat, Filippo Filippetto, Dean Budd, Marco Barbini, Andrea De Marchi, Chris Smylie, Sam Christie
But, before all that, the European Rugby Challenge Cup continues - after last night's competition opener - in Edinburgh.
Last season's finalists, led by head coach Alan Solomons, host Grenoble at BT Murrayfield as they seek to get off to a flying start.
In Will Helu they have a man who knows a thing or two about the opposition, having spent the 2009/10 season with Grenoble.
And the Tongan flyer could do worse than repeat his efforts against Munster in the GUINNESS PRO12 last weekend.
Grenoble currently sit eighth in the Top 14 table and showed their potential to produce a big performance just this month, toppling European champions Toulon 33-29.
Friday November 13, kick-off 7:30pm UK/Ire
EDINBURGH: Dougie Fife, Damien Hoyland, Will Helu, Matt Scott, Tom Brown, Greig Tonks, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, WP Nel, Anton Bresler, Alex Toolis, Mike Coman, John Hardie, Cornell Du Preez
Replacements: Neil Cochrane, Rory Sutherland, John Andress, Nasi Manu, Hamish Watson, Sean Kennedy, Blair Kinghorn, Chris Dean
GRENOBLE: Clement Gelin, Tino Nemani, Chris Farrell, Jackson Willison, Daniel Kilioni, Gilles Bosch, James Hart, Fabien Barcella, Loick Jammes, Kevin Goze, James Percival, Mathias Marie, Mahamadou Diaby, Fabien Alexandre, Dylan Hayes
Replacements: Arnaud Heguy, Sona Taumalolo, Walter Desmaison, Ben Hand, Steven Setephano, Christophe Loustalot, Xavier Mignot, Lucas Dupont
For Connacht, meanwhile, the unfamiliar surroundings of Siberia beckon as they prepare to take on Russian outfit Enisei-STM.
Founded in 1975, Enisei have developed into a major player in Russian Rugby in both XVs and the shortened code, sending a team to the World Club 7s for each of the last two years.
Not only is it Enisei's Challenge Cup debut, they are also the first Russian team to feature in the competition - while Connacht reached last year's quarter-finals before losing to eventual winners Gloucester.
With kick-off at 8am in the UK and Ireland - 3pm local time - en early start to Saturday beckons for Connacht fans back home if they want to follow the progress of the GUINNESS PRO12 leaders in Krasnoyarsk.
ENISEI-STM: Iurii Kushnarev, Mikhail Babaev, David Kacharava, Dmitrii Gerasimov, Denis Simplikevich, Ramil Gaisin, Jurijs Baranovs, Aleksandr Bezverkhov, Stanislav Selskii, Innokentiy Zykov, Uldis Saulite, Viacheslav Krasylnyk, Vitalii Orlov, Andrey Temnov, Dmitrii Krotov
Replacements: Nazir Gasanov, Andrei Polivalov, Evgenii Pronenko, Evgeny Elgin, Sergey Kuzmenko, Alexey Shcherban, Dmitriy Simonov, Anton Rudoi
CONNACHT: Darragh Leader, Rory Parata, Bundee Aki, Peter Robb, Niyi Adeolokun, AJ MacGinty, Ian Porter, Denis Buckley, Shane Delahunt, Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Aly Muldowney, John Muldoon, James Connolly, George Naoupu
Replacements: David Heffernan, Ronan Loughney, Conan O'Donnell, Danny Qualter, Sean O'Brien, Caolin Blade, Jack Carty, Craig Ronaldson
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