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Ireland trio Chris Henry, Iain Henderson and Declan Fitzpatrick are back in the Ulster squad for the top versus bottom game against Zebre.

Henry and Fitzpatrick were in the match-day squad for Ireland's defeat by England at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

Prop John Afoa is also named in Mark Anscombe's 25-man panel following a short stint in New Zealand.

Half-backs Michael Heaney and Paddy Jackson have also been added to the squad for the Ravenhill encounter.

Scrum-half Ruan Pienaar is expected to be fit after limping out of last week's home defeat to the Ospreys with a shoulder injury.

Paddy Wallace's chances of playing are rated as no better than 50-50 due to a lower leg injury sustained in the Ospreys game.

Although his injury is not expected to be a long-term one, he may not make the game against the Italians.

Ulster remain top of the Pro12 table despite the 16-12 loss to the Welsh team.

It was Ulster's first league defeat at Ravenhill in the current campaign.

The Irish side have a seven-point advantage over closest challengers Glasgow Warriors going into the round 15 matches.

Zebre are stranded at the bottom, 12 points adrift of the 11th-placed Dragons.

Ulster squad:

Forwards: Rob Herring, Niall Annett, Tom Court, Callum Black, John Afoa, Declan Fitzpatrick, Johann Muller, Neil McComb, Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy, Chris Henry, Iain Henderson, Mike McComish, Robbie Diack.

Backs: Ruan Pienaar, Michael Heaney, Stuart Olding, Paddy Jackson, Paddy Wallace, Luke Marshall, Darren Cave, Michael Allen, Andrew Trimble, Chris Cochrane, Ricky Andrew.