Biarritz welcome back France loose forward Imanol Harinordoquy for Friday's Heineken Cup clash with Treviso at Parc des Sports Aguilera.
The Basque skipper was sorely missed in last week's upset loss away to the Italian side and his return comes as a major boost to BO's slim hopes of making the quarter-finals.
Treviso, who also held the Ospreys to a draw at the Stadio Comunale Monigo, will be more than aware of the French side's impressive home record.
The 2006 and 2010 Heineken Cup finalists have lost only four of 39 home games in the tournament. Friday's visitors meanwhile have lost their last 11 games away from home in European competition.
There are a handful of other changes to the Biarritz side as Marcelo Bosch moves from fly-half to outside centre as Julien Peyrelongue starts in the ten jersey and Benoît Baby drops to the bench.
French international lock Jérôme Thion has also been dropped to the bench in favour for Pumas second row Manuel Carizza.
There is an all-new front row as Francisco Gomez Kodela replaces injured tighthead Campbell Johnstone while Arnaud Heguy and Yvan Watremez start ahead of Benoit August and Fabien Barcella.
Meanwhile, there are two personnel changes in the Treviso side as Andrea Pratichetti returns to the 12 jersey, shifting Alberto Sgarbi to outside centre and Tommaso Benvenuti to wing. Brendan Williams drops out of the squad as a result.
In the pack, there is one change as Robert Barbieri moves from flank to number eight in the absence of Paul Derbyshire. Francesco Minto joins the side of the scrum.
The teams:
Biarritz Olympique: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Ilikena Bolakoro, 10 Julien Peyrelongue, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Benoit Guyot, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Arnaud Heguy, 1 Yvan Watremez.
Replacements: 16 Benoit August, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Thomas Lebrequier, 19 Jérôme Thion, 20 Jean-Baptiste Roidot, 21 Florian Faure, 22 Benoît Baby, 23 Dane Haylett-Petty,
Benetton Treviso:15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Andrea Pratichetti, 11 Tommaso Benvenuti, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Enrico Ceccato, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 18 Pedro di Santo, 19 Benjamin Vermaak , 20 Gonzalo Padrò, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Willem de Waal, 23 Edoardo Gori,
Date: Friday, December 16
Venue: Parc des Sports Aguilera, Biarritz
Kick-off: 21.00 ( 20.00 GMT)
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon
Comments
Lucasrg says...
Forza Treviso...I smell un upset. Interisting to see young Andrea Pratichetti at 12! Sgarbi is a big guy and I've never seen him at 13...interesting.
I hope is gonna be close and tough.
Posted 19:09 15th December 2011