Preview: Treviso v Perpignan

Editor

Having learnt from past lessons, Perpignan have named a full-strength side for their trip to Treviso in the Heineken Cup on Saturday.

Having learnt from past lessons, Perpignan have named a full-strength side for their trip to Treviso in the Heineken Cup on Saturday.

Last year the Catalans saw their European campaign derailed in Italy as Treviso claimed a narrow win.

Lying in third place in Pool Five, three point behind Scarlets, USAP know they must take a bonus-point win from this encounter if they hope to qualify for the semi-finals.

Struggling in ten place in the Top 14, Perpignan are looking to Europe to salvage their season and have brought out all their big guns.

David Marty and Maxime Mermoz form an all-international midfield while skipper Nicolas Mas will pack down at tighthead.

Scrummaging specialist Marius Tincu is preferred at hooker to French international Guilhem Guirado with Perry Freshwater completing a powerful front row.

More to follow…

The teams:

Treviso:15 Brendan Williams, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Benjamin De Jager, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Benjamin Vermaak, 6 Marco Filippucci, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 Antonio Pavanello (c), 3 Pedro Di Santo, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet.
Replacements:16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Enrico Pavanello, 20 Corniel Van Zyl, 21 Manoa Vosawai, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Alberto Sgarbi.

Perpignan: 15 Jérôme Porical, 14 Farid Sid, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 David Mele, 8 Henry Tuilagi, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Grégory Le Corvec, 5 Guillaume Vilaceca, 4 Olivier Olibeau, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements:16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Benoit Bourrust, 19 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 22 Florian Cazenave, 23 Joffrey Michel,

Date:Saturday, January 15
Venue: Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso
Kick-off: 14:30 (13:30 GMT)
Referee: Alan Lewis