Justin Tipuric will gain his first taste of competitive rugby since this year’s Six Nations when he returns to start in the Ospreys’ No.7 jersey on Friday night.
The Wales flanker suffered concussion playing against Italy in March which ruled him out of the tour to New Zealand.
Elsewhere, Hugh Gustafson and Bradley Davies are set make their Ospreys debuts if they come off the bench.
Zebre welcome back Andries Van Schalkwyk as he’s recovered from an injury sustained during Italy’s summer tour.
However, the Italian side are currently struggling with a huge injury list (currently in double figures) and that means that two players enrolled at Rugby Calvisano, John Pettinelli and Fabio Semenzato, will be making the trip.
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ashley Beck, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield (C), 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Sam Parry, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 4 Lloyd Ashley, 5 Rory Thornton, 6 Olly Cracknell, 7 Justin Tipuric, 8 Tyler Ardron.
Replacements: 16 Hugh Gustafson, 17 Paul James, 18 Ma’afu Fia, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Rhys Webb, 22 Ben John, 23 Dafydd Howells.
Zebre Rugby: 15 Kurt Baker, 14 Lloyd Greeff, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Gabriele Di Giulio, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 William Palazzani 1 Andrea Lovotti, 2 Tommaso D’Apice, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 4 Federico Ruzza, 5 George Biagi (C), 6 Jacopo Sarto, 7 Maxime Mbanda, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia 17 Andrea De Marchi 18 Dario Chistolini 19 Valerio Bernabo 20 John Pettinelli 21 Fabio Semenzato 22 Charles Reed 23 Thomas Boni.
Newport Gwent Dragons are introducing two newcomers into their front row in the form Sam Hobbs and Craig Mitchell for their match at Ulster.
Rynard Landman returns after missing their final pre-season fixture and will start in the second row with Cory Hill.
The replacements bench sees the return of skipper Lewis Evans and Welsh International Tyler Morgan.
Ulster have lost just one of their last five contests with the Dragons back in March 2015.
Ireland internationals Craig Gilroy, Stuart Olding and Sean Reidy will all start this first game of the new season.
Ulster Rugby: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Stuart Olding, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Brett Herron, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 1 Callum Black, 2 Rob Herring (C), 3 Ross Kane, 4 Pete Browne, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Clive Ross, 7 Sean Reidy, 8 Roger Wilson
Replacements: 16 John Andrew, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Andy Warwick, 19 Alan O’Connor, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Sam Windsor, 23 Robert Lyttle.
Newport Gwent Dragons: 15 Carl Meyer, 14 Adam Warren, 13 Sam Beard, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Pat Howard, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Thomas Rhys Thomas (C), 3 Craig Mitchell 4 Cory Hill, 5 Rynard Landman, 6 Ollie Griffiths, 7 Nic Cudd, 8 Ed Jackson
Replacements; 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Tom Davies, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Nick Crosswell, 20 Lewis Evans, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Angus O’Brien, 23 Tyler Morgan.
Wales’ record cap holder Gethin Jenkins starts his 17th season of top-flight rugby on the bench when Cardiff Blues host Edinburgh in the Pro12.
Jenkins turns 36 in November, when he hopes to add to his 131 Wales caps in their autumn Tests.
Edinburgh are without Scotland loose-head Al Dickinson, out until November with a calf injury, and Welsh fly-half Jason Tovey with a fractured wrist.
New signing Duncan Weir starts at 10, with Sasa Tofilau set for a debut.
Ellis Jenkins will captain Blues as head coach Danny Wilson has named a strong squad containing 14 full internationals.
A host of Wales internationals are also named on the replacements bench, including Jenkins.
Cardiff Blues: Dan Fish; Blaine Scully, Cory Allen, Rey Lee-Lo, Tom James; Steve Shingler, Tomos Williams; Rhys Gill, Kirby Myhill, Taufa’ao Filise, George Earle, Macauley Cook, Josh Navidi, Ellis Jenkins (capt), Nick Williams.
Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Gethin Jenkins, Scott Andrews, James Down, Cam Dolan, Lewis Jones, Gareth Anscombe, Matthew Morgan
Edinburgh: Glenn Bryce; Rory Scholes, Sasa Tofilau, Solomoni Rasolea, Tom Brown; Duncan Weir, Nathan Fowles; Rory Sutherland, Ross Ford, WP Nel, Fraser McKenzie, Grant Gilchrist (capt), Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Nasi Manu
Replacements: Stuart McInally, Jack Cosgrove, Simon Berghan, Ben Toolis, Magnus Bradbury, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Blair Kinghorn, Chris Dean
