Zebre Rugby might still be waiting for their first victory of this Guinness PRO12 campaign but Glasgow Warriors chief Gregor Townsend knows the Italians are a tough prospect in front of their home fans.

Warriors travel to Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi on Saturday hoping to continue their previous good record against Zebre, with the Italian side yet to beat the Scotsmen in eight previous meetings – failing to pick up a losing bonus point against them for over three years.

And while Zebre are yet to win this season, their last home game saw them narrowly lose 23-21 to Cardiff Blues, while the clash before saw them leading Connacht in front of their own fans only for the game to be postponed due to poor weather conditions.

In order to not fall foul to Zebre for the first time, Warriors head coach Townsend has handed Robert McAlpine his first start after making his debut off the bench last week in the victory over Newport Gwent Dragons, and he joins Rob Harley in the second row.

No.8 Ryan Wilson returns to captain the side having missed the victory in Newport, meaning Josh Strauss moves across the back row to the blindside and Fraser Brown once again starts on the openside.

Sean Lamont starts for the first time this season on the right wing having reached a century of caps against Connacht on the opening weekend, while Lee Jones is named as the other winger and Peter Murchie retains his spot at full-back.

It is a brand new centre partnership with Sam Johnson and Nick Grigg combining in midfield for Glasgow for the first time, after teaming up for Stirling County last weekend.

Ali Price and Rory Clegg, who came on as replacements last weekend, will once again combine in the half-backs, the scrum-half getting on the scoreboard the last time he started a match, which was against Cardiff Blues three weeks ago.

Corey Flynn, who opened his Warriors try-scoring account against the Dragons, starts his second consecutive game at hooker and he is joined in the front row by Gordon Reid and Sila Puafisi.

Townsend said: “Robert McAlpine has worked hard since he joined us last week and we look forward to him playing alongside Rob Harley.

“Callum Hunter-Hill impressed us with his workrate during pre-season against Harlequins, and now has an opportunity to make an impact from the bench in a Guinness PRO12 game.

“Zebre have shown that they are very strong at home, with a narrow defeat to Cardiff a couple of weeks ago and an impressive first-half performance against Connacht the previous week.

“Unfortunately for them, the match was then postponed and I’m sure that they will be very determined to carry on this home form against us. We will have to be accurate and work hard to win out in Parma.”

Zebre could face former wing Leonardo Sarto, who is on the Glasgow Warriors bench, while home head coach Gianluca Guidi has made six changes to the starting XV that lost to Munster last time out.

Five of those changes occur among the forwards with lock George Biagi, Prop Pietro Ceccarelli, hooker Oliviero Fabiani, flanker Maxime Mbandà and No.8 Andries Van Schalkwyk all returning.

The only change among the backs sees young winger Lloyd Greeff handed the No.14 jersey as he prepares to make his first start in front of the home crowd.

On the bench there is a first call of the season for scrum-half Marcello Violi who will be hoping to get back to playing after his knee surgery last December.
Zebre: Padovani, Greeff, Bisegni, Castello, Venditti, Canna, Palazzani, Lovotti, Fabiani, Ceccarelli, Furno, Biagi, Mbandà, Meyer, Van Schalkwyk
Replacements: Festuccia, Postiglioni, Chistolini, Geldenhuys, Ruzza, Violi, Boni, Van Zyl

Glasgow Warriors: Murchie, Lamont, Grigg, Johnson, Jones, Clegg, Price, Reid, Flynn, Puafisi, Harley, McAlpine, Strauss, Brown, Wilson

Replacments: Malcolm, Sears-Duru, Fagerson Z, Hunter-Hill, Fagerson M, Hart, Hogg, Sarto

Overall Guinness PRO12 head to head record:
Played 8, Zebre won 0, Warriors won 8.

At Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, 5.05pm local time (4.05pm UK & Ireland)
Referee: Lloyd Linton (SRU, 14th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Cammy Rudkin (SRU), Andrea Spadoni (FIR)
Citing Commissioner: Roberto Carra (FIR)