Darren Cave will earn his 222nd Ulster cap against Zebre on Saturday night to move him to second in the province's all-time appearance list. After the Pro14 clash at Kingspan Park he will overtake Roger Wilson's tally of 221 and the 31-year-old will be only seven caps off Andrew Trimble's club record (kick-off 7.35pm).
Cave is again joined in midfield by Stuart McCloskey, who marked a milestone last week against Ospreys with a man of the match performance in his 100th provincial game.
There is a new half-back partnership with Dave Shanahan and Peter Nelson named at scrumhalf and outhalf respectively. Robert Baloucoune has returned from injury and will line out on the right wing, with Rob Lyttle picked on the opposite flank and Louis Ludik moving to fullback.
The frontrow of Eric O'Sullivan, Rob Herring and Marty Moore is unchanged from last week's win in Bridgend, while Kieran Treadwell comes into the secondrow alongside captain Alan O'Connor. Sean Reidy will start in the seven jersey and is joined in the backrow by Clive Ross and Nick Timoney.
The replacements bench is made up of John Andrew, Andy Warwick, Ross Kane, Ian Nagle, Greg Jones, Jonny Stewart, Johnny McPhillips and James Hume.
ULSTER: L Ludik; R Baloucoune, D Cave, S McCloskey, R Lyttle; P Nelson, D Shanahan; E O'Sullivan, R Herring, M Moore; A O'Connor (Capt), K Treadwell; C Ross, S Reidy, N Timoney. Replacements: J Andrew, A Warwick, R Kane, I Nagle, G Jones, J Stewart, J McPhillips, J Hume.
