Ulster welcome Benetton Treviso to Kingspan Stadium looking for a fourth straight Guinness PRO12 bonus-point win to keep their play-off hopes alive and kicking.

What’s at stake?

A five-point victory over Treviso on Friday night will move Ulster level on points with Scarlets in fourth-place in the Guinness PRO12 table.

Playing on Friday night allows Ulster to put the pressure on Scarlets, who don’t play Leinster until Saturday evening, while Treviso will be looking to pull further away from Italian rivals Zebre.

Ulster team news: Les Kiss is able to welcome back three Ireland internationals, Andrew Trimble, Craig Gilroy and Jared Payne, into his back line for the visit of Treviso.

Gilroy starts at full-back for the first time this season while Trimble joins Charles Piutau on the wing and Payne starts at outside centre.

Marcell Coetzee also returns to the starting XV after missing the trip to Zebre last weekend due to illness with Rob Herring captaining the side from hooker.

Benetton Treviso team news: Coach Kieran Crowley makes just a single change to the XV beaten by Connacht last weekend with Angelo Esposito coming in on the wing.

Michael Tagicakibau moves from the wing to inside centre with Alberto Sgarbi dropping to the bench for the trip to Ireland.

Talking points:

Kiss has prepared for all potential tactics from the Italians but wasn’t getting carried away by Payne’s return to the Ireland squad this week.

He said: “(Payne) came through with no issues on the weekend, but it is just baby steps to see how he went last week and he is available for us.

“Well, we did have a chat about (Italy’s tactics against England) and I wouldn’t say that they’re likely to bring it but they could.

“It’s an interesting tactic and you always talk about what would happen. We’ve had a discussion about it for sure and we might try it on them.”

Key battle: Craig Gilroy v Luca Sperandio

Uncapped Luca Sperandio has just been called up by Conor O’Shea to his 31-man squad to face France and Scotland in the RBS 6 Nations so will have a point to prove.

And he comes up against a fellow flyer in Gilroy who scored a hat-trick of tries against Italy in Rome during the Championship.

Sperandio is just 21 years old and will be desperate to celebrate his international call-up with a strong performance but will have his work cut out to keep Gilroy quiet.

Key stat: Ulster have never achieved four bonus point victories in a row in the Guinness PRO12, something they can achieve this weekend.

Did you know? Ulster have lost just once at home in the Guinness PRO12 in the past twelve months, a 15-14 defeat to Munster in October while Benetton Treviso have not won since beating Zebre on 23 December.

Ulster – Top points scorer: Ruan Pienaar 72 Top try scorer: Jacob Stockdale 7

Benetton Treviso – Top points scorer: Tommaso Allan 66pts Top try scorer: Dean Budd 4

Overall Guinness PRO12 head to head record:
Played 13, Ulster won 11, Treviso won 1 with 1 game drawn.

At Kingspan Stadium, 7.35pm Live on BBC Sport NI and Eurosport Italy
Referee: Dan Jones (WRU, 6th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Simon Rees (WRU), Dermot Blake (IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Wayne Sheridan (IRFU)
TMO: Neil Hennessy (WRU)