Mauro Bergamasco starts for Zebre against Biarritz at the Stadio XXV Aprile after being excluded from Italy's squad for the Six Nations.
Former NSW Waratahs fly-half Daniel Halangahu starts at inside centre alongside Italy international Gonzalo Garcia, with Luciano Orquera pulling the strings at fly-half.
Josh Sole moves from the second row to start at number eight, with South African born lock Quintin Geldenhuys winning a starting berth in the second row.
Former Toulouse prop Salvatore Perugini is named amongst the replacements, with Italy international Tito Tebaldi also on the bench.
Meanwhile, Imanol Harinordoquy is named a replacement for Biarritz, with Raphael Lakafia starting at number eight alongside Magnus Lund and Wenceslas Lauret in the back row.
France internationals Jerome Thiôn and Fabien Barcella are named in the front-five, with talisman Dimitri Yachvili pulling the strings at scrum-half partnered by Jean-Pascal Barraque.
Former England international Iain Balshaw is named on the wing in place of Takudza Ngewnya, with Marcelo Bosch at full-back.
Biarritz are only a point ahead of Connacht in the Pool but both sides have won two of their games but need two wins to stand any chance of keeping their own Heineken Cup ambitions alive.
New Italian Franchise, who are in their first season of Heineken Cup rugby, are still looking for their first victory in any competition but will take heart from their recent performance against Pro12 champions, the Ospreys.
The teams:
Zebre: 15 Paolo Buso, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Gonzalo Garcia, 12 Daniel Halangahu, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Alberto Chillon, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Filippo Ferrarini, 5 Mike Van Vuren, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 David Ryan, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Luca Redolfini, 18 Salvatore Perugini, 19 Emiliano Caffini, 20 Nicola Belardo, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Alberto Benettin, 23 Ruggero Trevisan.
Biarritz: 15 Marcelo Bosch, 14 Iain Balshaw, 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Raphael Lakafia, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Magnus Lund, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Eugène Van Staden, 2 Jean-Philippe Genevois, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Thomas Synaeghel, 18 Ben Broster, 19 Thibault Dubarry, 20 Imanol Harinordoquy, 21 Yann Lesgourgues, 22 Julien Peyrelongue, 23 Seremaïa Burotu.
Date: Saturday, January 12
Venue: Stadio XXV Aprile
Kick-off: 14.35 local (13.35 GMT)
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
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