Preview: Treviso v Dragons
New signing Tom Cheeseman gets his first start for the Men of Gwent as the Dragons take on Treviso at the Stadio di Monigo on Friday.
New signing Tom Cheeseman gets his first start for the Men of Gwent as the Dragons take on Treviso at the Stadio di Monigo on Friday.
Centre Ashley Smith returns from a six-month lay-off to take up a position on the bench and Andrew Coombs gets his first start at number eight.
Wales international lock Luke Charteris is rested and Adam Jones takes up a place on the bench.
Meanwhile, some new faces will make their Magners League debut as Treviso prepare for their next challenge against the Dragons.
Head coach Franco Smith and his team are aiming to quickly forget last week's loss against Cardiff Blues, the first home defeat in this year's championship.
Newport are well known rivals for the former Springbok player. Smith was a Dragons player in the late 90's and saw the team play against Benetton in his first year as a coach in Treviso, back in 2007.
Italian international winger Ludovico Nitoglia will make his first appearance in the green and white jersey after his move from L'Aquila this summer.
Former England Seven captain Andy Vilk is also back in the first XV in the centre spot, with Ezio Galon. Winger Benjamin De Jager will be back in the starting squad and scrum-half Tobias Botes will play at full-back.
Form: The two teams have met on two previous occasions in the Heineken Cup in season 2007/08, where each side triumphed on opposing soil. Benetton Treviso have an even won two, lost two record so far in their inaugural season in the Magners League. Treviso have won just one of their last five encounters with Welsh opponents: 34-28 over Scarlets at Stadio Monigo in round one. The Dragons' only victory in their last six matches in the Magners League was 23-11 at home to Glasgow Warriors on September 12. The Dragons most recent away win in the Magners League was 9-8 at Edinburgh on 1 November 2009.
The teams:
Treviso: 15 Tobias Botes, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Andrew Vilk, 11 Benjamin De Jager, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Paul Derbyshire, 6 Robert Barbieri, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (c), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Ignacio Fernandez Rouye.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Franco Sbaraglini, 18 Pedro Di Santo, 19 Enrico Pavanello, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Tommaso Benvenuti, 22 Simon Picone, 23 Brendan Williams.
Dragons: 15 Will Harries, 14 Adam Hughes, 13 Tom Cheeseman, 12 Tom Riley, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Matthew Jones, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Andrew Coombs, 7 Robin Sowden-Taylor, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Scott Morgan, 4 Rob Sidoli, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tom Willis (c), Phil Price.
Replacements: 16 Lloyd Burns, 17 Nigel Hall, 18 Hugh Gustafson, 19 Adam Jones, 20 Lewis Evans, 21 Matthew Evans, 22 Nicky Griffiths, 23 Ashley Smith.
Date: Friday, 1 October
Venue: Stadio di Monigo, Treviso
Kick-off: 19:05
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Assistant Referees: Alan Falzone (Italy), Stefano Traversi (Italy)
Television match official: Mauro Dordolo (Italy)