Toulouse have made seven changes to their starting XV for Saturday's Heineken Cup clash with Treviso at Stadio Comunale Monigo.
Toulouse won their opening Pool Two clash with Leicester at home but face a new test on the road in Round Two. The four-time champions have never played Treviso in Italy. The only previous meeting between the two teams came in the inaugural season of Heineken Cup in 1995, with Toulouse winning 18-9.
Treviso have won two of their last three home games against Top14 opponents, beating Perpignan and Biarritz but French champions have won their opening two games of a Heineken Cup campaign for the past five seasons.
French international wing Yoann Huget shifts to full-back for Toulouse in the place of Clement Poitrenaud, who drops to the bench, while Fijian speedster Timoci Matanavou takes over on the left wing.
In the pack, Pumas lock Patricio Albacete makes his first start of the season after returning from international duty as Yoann Maestri is given a rest. Jean Bouilhou is preferred to Yannick Nyanga in the back row.
There is an all-new front row as manager Guy Novès rotates his squad, meaning the visitors have an all-international bench.
Meanwhile, Treviso coach Franco Smith will be looking for a response from his side after their disappointing 38-17 defeat to Ospreys in Wales last week.
Treviso will need to improve on their discipline - they received three yellow cards at the Liberty Stadium - if they are to add Toulouse to the list of big-names they have beaten at home in recent times.
Treviso have made six changes to their side. In the only change to the backline, Giiulio Toniolatti starts ahead of Ludovico Nitoglia on the right wing.
Up front, Manoa Vosawai moves from number eight to flank as Robert Barbieri returns to the starting XV at the back of the scrum.
In the second row, Francesco Minto replaces Valerio Bernabò while there are two new props as Lorenzo Cittadini and Michele Rizzo take over from Bees Roux and Alberto De Marchi.
The teams:
Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Tobie Botes, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Manoa Vosawai, 5 Francesco Minto, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Simone Favaro, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Andrea Pratichetti.
Toulouse:15 Yoann Huget, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Timoci Matanavou, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Jean Marc Doussain, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Romain Millo Chlusky, 3 Yohan Montès, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 1 Jean Batiste Poux .
Replacements:16 Gary Botha, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Gregory Lamboley, 20 Yannick Nyanga, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Yannick Jauzion, 23 Clement Poitrenaud .
Date: Saturday, October 20
Venue: Stadio Comunale di Monigo, Treviso
Kick-off: 14:35 (13.35 BST /12.35 GMT)
Referee: Leighton Hodges
Comments
Carpelone says...
Rosbif.
I do not follow European rugby that muc. Since I live in Italy, I am forced to see the games of the Italian franchises. Refereeing is always patronising.
Treviso is improving, their pack will be better this week end. I would be surprised if ST get 5 points.
Let's hope for a good game.
Posted 21:41 19th October 2012
melkdave says...
Well i wish Treviso would win this match ,but realistically i cant see it ,espically after the Ospreys took the Treviso pack apart last weekend,and thats their strength.And yes i know the referee didnt help Treviso cause ,but those are the rubs of the green ,sometines you get them ,other times you dont.Toulouse are just as powerfull or even more ,so unless Trevisos manager has worked miracles at motavating his forwards ,going to be a long game for them im afraid.Though Treviso are improving very fast ,next year they will be competative against most teams i feel.May struggle against the really big boys ,but then who doesnt .
Posted 12:57 19th October 2012
Rosbif says...
Fingers crossed. Could really do with a 5-0 here, but this Italian team has shown itself to be no walk-over. But for (as a neutral, am I allowed to suggest this?) some really unfortunate refereeing against them over the years (@carpelone - you will be more aware of this than most of us!), Treviso could/should have had a few more scalps for sure. Here's hoping ST are not one of them tomorrow. And please, let the sun shine. ST have played in the pouring rain for the past 4 weeks now.....
(P.S. for all those analysts out there checking the resting of players, I see Poitrenaud as a tactical decision in favour of Matanavou, whereas Maestri is being rested imo)
Posted 12:16 19th October 2012