Ulster v Oyonnax Rugby
After failing to derail Saracens last week, GUINNESS PRO12 side Ulster must now defeat Oyonnax, preferably with a bonus point, to give themselves the best chance of making the European Champions Cup quarter-final.
Ulster overcame a scare when they travelled to eastern France to face Oyonnax on January 10th, when they recovered from a 23-0 deficit to win 23-24.
Darren Cave has recovered from a shoulder injury and makes the Ulster starting line-up for the first time since December, with young Irish centre Stuart McCloskey rested.
Oyonnax come into this fixture after securing their first ever win in Europe, after they defeated four-time champions Toulouse with a bonus-point at the Stade Charles Mathon last week.
Saturday, 1pm, Kingspan Stadium
Ulster: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Craig Gilroy; 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Paul Marshall; 1 Kyle McCall, 2 Rob Herring (capt), 3 Ricky Lutton; 4 Alan O'Connor, 5 Franco van der Merwe; 6 Robbie Diack, 7 Sean Reidy, 8 Nick Williams
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Callum Black, 18 Bronson Ross, 19 Clive Ross, 20 Roger Wilson, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Rory Scholes.
Oyonnax: 15 Florian Denos, 14 Daniel Ikpefan, 13 Guillaume Bousses, 12 Alaska Taufa, 11 Dug Codjo, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Julien Blanc; 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Thomas Bordes, 3 Giorgi Vepkhvadze, 4 Leon Power, 5 Geoffrey Fabbri, 6 Valentin Ursache, 7 Pierrick Gunther, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg
Replacements: 16 Jeremie Maurouard, 17 Laurent Delboulbès, 18 Horace Pungea , 19 Fabrice Metz, 20 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 21 Fabien Cibray, 22 Regis Lespinas, 23 Eamonn Sheridan
Glasgow Warriors v Racing 92
Glasgow have to take maximum points against Racing 92 and hope that a number of other results go their way if they are to stand a chance of reaching the quarter-finals as one of the best runners-up.
Scottish international Tommy Seymour returns to the starting line-up after recovering from a hamstring injury, and fly-half Duncan Weir could make his 100th appearance for Glasgow if he comes off the bench.
Alex Allan replaces Gordon Reid at loose-head prop and Fiji international Leone Nakarawa moves from second row to No8.
Racing 92 have opted to rest a number of their key men after ensuring their spot in the quarter-finals last weekend with victory over Scarlets. Dan Carter, Casey Laulala, Juan Imhoff and Mike Phillips are all rested this week.
Saturday, 5:30pm, Rugby Park
Glasgow: 15. Stuart Hogg, 14 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 13. Alex Dunbar 12. Sam Johnson 11. Tommy Seymour 10. Finn Russell 9. Ali Price; 1. Alex Allan 2. Shalva Mamukashvili 3. Sila Puafisi 4. Greg Peterson 5. Jonny Gray (Captain) 6. James Eddie 7. Simone Favaro 8. Leone Nakarawa
Replacements: 16 James Malcolm, 17 Jerry Yanuyanutawa, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Chris Fusaro, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Lee Jones
Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Louis Dupichot, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Alexandre Dumoulin, 11 Marc Andreu, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Maxime Machenaud; 1 Julien Brugnaut, 2 Camille Chat, 3 Luc Ducalcon, 4 Luke Charteris, 5 Francois Van Der Mewre, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Bernard Le Roux, 8 Chris Masoe
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Davit Khinchagishvili, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Thibault Dubarry, 20 Juandre Kruger, 21 Xavier Chauveau, 22 Benjamin Dambielle, 23 Etienne Dussartre
Scarlets v Northampton
After suffering a humiliating 64-14 defeat to Racing 92 last week, GUINNESS PRO12 side Scarlets will be looking to get their first Champions Cup win of the season at Franklin's Gardens.
Scarlets' 21-year-old flanker Will Boyde makes his European rugby debut at open-side flanker, with Aaron Shingler moving into his preferred position of blind-side flanker.
Former Scarlet George North returns to Parc y Scarlets for the first time since leaving in 2013 and has been named in the starting line-up to face his former club.
Northampton still have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, and a bonus point victory would put them in a great position to do so providing some other results go in their favour.
Saturday, 5:30pm, Parc Y Scarlets
Scarlets: 15 Michael Collins, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Regan King, 12 Steven Shingler, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Phil John, 2 Ken Owens, 3 Samson Lee, 4 Tom Price, 5 Maselino Paulino, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Will Boyde, 8 Morgan Allen
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 Tom Phillips, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Steff Hughes
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Jamie Elliot, 13 George Pisi, 12 Harry Mallinder, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Tom Kessell; 1 Alex Waller, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Paul Hill, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Jamie Gibson, 7 Tom Wood, 8 Sam Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Michael Paterson, 20 Jon Fisher, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Luther Burrell
Wasps v Leinster
Irish fly-half Jonathan Sexton returns to the Leinster line-up to captain the team for the first time in what will be his 100th start as they travel to the Ricoh Arena to face Wasps.
Elsewhere in the team, Leo Cullen has made 11 changes from the side that beat Bath last week with Zane Kirchner, Dave Kearney, Rhys Ruddock and Jordi Murphy the only players retaining their spot in the starting XV.
Despite having already exited the competition, Leinster come into this fixture in good form having defeated Bath 25-11 to pick up their first European victory this season.
Wasps can still make the quarter-final stage and have been boosted by Nathan Hughes and Jake Cooper Woolley returning from injury to feature on the replacements bench.
Saturday, 3:15pm, Ricoh Arena
Wasps: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Brendan Macken, 11 Frank Halai, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Joe Simpson; 1 Matt Mullan, 2 Edd Shervington, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Bradley Davies, 6 James Haskell, 7 George Smith, 8 Sam Jones
Replacements: 16 Ashley Johnson, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Nathan Hughes, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ruaridh Jackson, 23 Rob Miller
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Zane Kirchner, 13 Luke Fitzgerald, 12 Noel Reid, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Eoin Reddan; 1 Jack McGrath, 2 Sean Cronin, 3 Marty Moore, 4 Devin Toner, 5 Rhys Ruddock, 6 Dominic Ryan, 7 Jordi Murphy, 8 Jamie Heaslip
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Ross Molony, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Cathal Marsh, 23 Ben Te'o
Challenge Cup
Connacht V Enisei-STM
Connacht have been boosted ahead of their European Rugby Challenge Cup encounter with Enisei-STM with Robbie Henshaw, Nathan White and Kieran Marmion returning to the starting line-up.
They join second row Ultan Dillane to make up the contingent of four Connacht players who were chosen by Joe Schmidt for the Irish national team for the upcoming Six Nations.
Pat Lam's men surrendered their position at the summit of their pool after losing to CA Brive last week but remain in strong contention to make the quarter-finals if they can defeat Enisei-STM this week.
The Russian side sit at the bottom of their pool, but have picked up two home victories in the European Challenge Cup this season against CA Brive and Newcastle Falcons.
Saturday, 3pm, Galway Sportsground
Connacht: 15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Matt Healy, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Kieran Marmion; 1 Denis Buckley, 2 Dave Heffernan, 3 Nathan White, 4 Ultan Dillane, 5 Aly Muldowney, 6 John Muldoon (capt), 7 James Connolly, 8 Eoghan Masterson.
Replacements: 16 Tom McCartney, 17 Finlay Bealham, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 George Naoupu, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 Jack Carty, 23 Rory Parata.
Enisei-STM: 15 Ramil Gaisin, 14 Jurijs Baranovs, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Mikhail Babaev, 11 Denis Simplikevich; 10 Iurii Kushnarev, 9 Alexey Shcherban; 1 Alexey Volkov, 2 Nazir Gasanov, . Innokentiy Zykov, 4 Uldis Saulite, 5 Viacheslav Krasylnyk, 6 Vitalii Orlov, 7 Andrey Temnov, 8 Anton Rudoi
Replacements: 16 Stanislav Selskii, 17 Andrei Polivalov, 18 Evgenii Pronenko, 19 Mikhail Sidorov, 20 Igor Kurashov, 21 Dmitriy Simonov, 22 Nikolay Serkov, 23 Plavel Butenko
Zebre v Gloucester
Zebre are currently unbeaten at home in this year's Challenge Cup having won all three of the home fixtures conceding just nine points per game.
A bonus-point victory over Gloucester would put Zebre in excellent contention for a quarter-final spot, with two best runners-up places still up for grabs after Newport Gwent Dragons secured one of them after finishing their pool with 20 points.
Last year's Challenge Cup winners' Gloucester have won six from six in their European campaign so far this season as they head to Parma to take on GUINNESS PRO12 team Zebre.
Second row Joe Latta is to make his first competitive start for the Cherry & Whites after joining the club from the Super 15 side Highlanders in the autumn.
Saturday, 2pm, Stadio Lanfranchi
Zebre: 15 Kayle Van Zyl, 14 Dion Berryman, 13 Thomas Boni, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani; 1 Andrea De Marchi, 2 Oliviero Fabiani 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 4 Valerio Bernabo, , 5 Marco Bortolami, 6 James Taylor 7 Jean Cook 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk
Replacements: 16 Emiliano Coria17 Bruno Postiglioni18 Guillermo Roan19 Gideon Koegelenberg20 Federico Ruzza 21 Luke Burgess22 Ulrich Beyers23 Kelly Haimona
Gloucester: 15 Rob Cook; 14 David Halaifonua, 13 Bill Meakes, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Steve McColl 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz; 1 Yann Thomas, 2 Tom Lindsay, 3 Paul Doran-Jones 4 Joe Latta, 5 Mariano Galarza; 6 Lewis Ludlow, 7 Jacob Rowan, 8 Ben Morgan
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Josh McNulty, 19 Tom Hicks, 20 Elliott Stooke, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Charlie Sharples, 23 Gareth Evans
FC Grenoble v Edinburgh
It will be a winner takes all match this week as FC Grenoble welcome Edinburgh to the Stade Lesdiguieres, with just one point separating the two at the top of the pool.
Whichever side runs out as victors will earn themselves a quarter-final spot with the loser hoping that other results go their way to go through as one of the best runners-up.
Edinburgh have made 12 changes since their last European fixture against Agen last week, with the first choice Scottish front row of Alastair Dickinson, Ross Ford and WP Nel returning.
FC Grenoble are undefeated in European rugby since their opening round defeat to Edinburgh at BT Murrayfield, and have won their last two home matches.
Saturday, 7:45pm, Stade Lesdiguieres
FC Grenoble: 15 Gio Aplon 14 Xavier Mignot, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Nigel Hunt 11. Daniel Kilioni 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Charl McLeod; 1 Fabien Barcella, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 3 Dayna Edwards, 4 Ben Hand, 5 Peter Kimlin, 6 Henry Vanderglas, 7 Mahamadou Diaby, 8 Rory Grice
Replacements: 16 Loick Jammes, 17 Sona Taumalolo, 18 Rossouw de Klerk, 19 James Percival, 20 Fabien Alexandre, 21 Christophe Loustalot, 22 Gilles Bosch, 23 Fabien Gengenbacher
Edinburgh: 15 Greig Tonks, 14 Damien Hoyland, 13 Michael Allen, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Will Helu, 10 Phil Burleigh, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Ross Ford, 3 WP Nel, 4 Anton Bresler, 5 Ben Toolis, 6 Mick Coman, 7 John Hardie, 8 Cornell Du Preez,
Replacements: 16 Neil Cochrane, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Alex Toolis, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Andries Strauss, 23 Dougie Fife
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