MUNSTER HEAD COACH Anthony Foley has handed a starting role to Johnny Holland that sees the out-half partner Tomás O’Leary for the first time.

The half-backs will have Ireland internationals Keith Earls and Simon Zebo to feed, returning to the setup at centre and fullback respectively.

Up front, Zebre will have to face a front row of Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell and Stephen Archer with Donnacha Ryan and Billy Holland adding their weight from the second row and Tommy O’Donnell adding Test experience from the openside.

Munster will start the weekend (KO 7pm at Thomond Park) four points behind fourth-placed Ulster who meet reigning champions Glasgow. So the southern province could propel themselves into the play-off places with a bonus point win and they will have CJ Stander and Conor Murray among the replacements to help them turn the screw in the second half.

Zebre will welcome nine internationals of their own to the starting line-up, including out-half Kelly Haimona.

Munster

15. Simon Zebo

14. Darren Sweetnam

13. Keith Earls

12. Rory Scannell

11. Ronan O’Mahony

10. Johnny Holland

9. Tomás O’Leary

1. Dave Kilcoyne

2. Niall Scannell

3. Stephen Archer

4. Donnacha Ryan

5. Billy Holland (Capt)

6. Dave O’Callaghan

7. Tommy O’Donnell

8. Jack O’Donoghue

Replacements:

16. Mike Sherry

17. James Cronin

18. Mario Sagario

19. Dave Foley

20. CJ Stander

21. Conor Murray

22. Ian Keatley

23. David Johnston

Zebre

15 Kayle Van Zyl

14 Leonardo Sarto

13 Giulio Bisegni

12 Tommaso Boni

11 Giulio Toniolatti

10 Kelly Haimona

9 Guglielmo Palazzani

1 Guillermo Roan

2 Oliviero Fabiani

3 Dario Chistolini

4 Quintin Geldenhuys (Capt)

5 Valerio Bernabò

6 Jean Cook

7 Federico Ruzza

8 Johan Meyer

Replacements :

16 Bruno Postiglioni

17 Andrea De Marchi

18 Pietro Ceccarelli

19 Gideon Koegelenberg

20 Emiliano Caffini*

21 Luke Burgess

22 Ulrich Beyers

23 Matteo Pratichetti

Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU)