Toyota Cheetahs will face Zebre in their first ever Guinness PRO14 match in Italy at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi on Saturday.

The pair met at the start of the season with the Cheetahs producing a bonus-point 54-29 victory at the Toyota Stadium.

What’s at stake?

After a two-week domestic break, Zebre come back to league action off the back of two defeats against Agen and Pau in the European Challenge Cup.

The Italian side have not won since their stunning 27-23 triumph over Ulster and will be looking to end a run of three successive defeats in all competitions.

Meanwhile the Toyota Cheetahs will be looking to bounce back after they were edged out in their last league match against unbeaten Glasgow Warriors with just minutes to play.

Team news (Zebre): There will be five changes in the starting line-up of Zebre from their defeat against Pau in the Challenge Cup.
Sami Panico replaces Andrea Lovotti with Leonard Krumow and Valerio Bernabo deputising for David Sisi and George Biagi respectively
Backs Mattia Bellini and Matteo Minozzi regain selection after recovering from injury.

Team news (Cheetahs): The South African side make three changes to the line-up against the Glasgow Warriors with Raymond Rhule, Junior Pokomela and Ox Nche coming in for Rosko Specman, Charle Marais and Henco Venter.

Fred Zeilinga will be making his Guinness PRO14 bow this weekend having been sidelined due to hip injury he picked up in July.

Talking points:

It wasn’t a brilliant couple of weeks for these two sides away from domestic action as both lost in their respective cup competitions.

The Cheetahs were scintillating in their 54-39 victory over Zebre on September 16, running over eight tries in a dominant home display.

The Italian outfit will be itching to get revenge on home soil and will take inspiration from their previous home fixture in the league against Ulster.

Key Battle: Makazole Mapimpi v Mattia Bellini

With an impressive 10 tries between them already, this should be quite a match-up at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.

Makazole Mapimpi tore Zebre to shreds in their previous meeting; scoring the first of eight tries in Bloemfontein.

He’s up against the free-scoring Mattia Bellini who already has four tries this campaign and is Zebre’s top try scorer this term.

Key stat: Zebre’s Giovanni Licata made five offloads in Round 6 of the Guinness PRO14, more than any other player in the league.

Did you know? The contest between these two sides in September was the first ever Guinness PRO14 match to be held at the Toyota Stadium, in Bloemfontein

Zebre: M Minozzi; G Bisegni, T Boni, T Castello, M Bellini, C Canna, M Violi, S Panico, O Fabiani, E Bello, L Krumow, V Bernabo, G Licata, J Meyer, D Minnie

Replacements: L Luus, A Lovotti, D Chistolini, J Sarto, R Giammarioli, G Palazzani, S Bordoli, C Gaffney

Toyota Cheetahs: S Petersen, R Rhule, F Venter, W Small-Smith, M Mapimpi, E Stapelberg, T Meyer, O Nche, T van Jaarsveld, T Botha, J Basson, R Hugo, P Schoeman, J Pokomela, O Mohoje

Replacements: J Toit, C Marais, J Coetzee, R Bernardo, J Wiese, S Venter, F Zeilinga, N Lee

TV: Eurosport Italia 2 (KO 6pm)

Match officials – Referee: Dan Jones (WRU), AR1: Andrea Piardi (FIR), AR2: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR), TMO: Alan Falzone (IRFU)

Guinness PRO14 Final 2018 Ticket Information: Fans can save up to 20% on selected tickets, and prices start at just €30 for adults and €5 for children, and be booked via www.ticketmaster.ie