Planet Rugby

Preview: Treviso v Biarritz

09th December 2011 07:51

SKY_MOBILE Iain Balshaw

At full-back: Iain Balshaw

Biarritz will be without key duo Imanol Harinordoquy and Dimitri Yachvili for a tricky trip to face Treviso at Stadio Comunale di Monigo on Saturday.

France number eight Harinordoquy is out with a back injury while Yachvili is still struggling with a thigh problem he sustained at the World Cup.

Yann Lesgourgues gets the nod at number nine this week while there is a shift at full-back from their last Heineken Cup clash, against Saracens, as Iain Balshaw slots in for Dane Haylett-Petty.

Replacement in that clash, Julien Peyrelongue, again must settle for a spot on the bench as Marcelo Bosch is at ten alongside Lesgourgues.

Meanwhile, Treviso have named their strongest possible side as they look to emulate fellow Italian outfit Aironi's shock win over BO last term.

Treviso are fresh from their 26-26 RaboDirect PRO12 draw with the Ospreys and cannot be written off causing a huge upset at Stadio Comunale di Monigo that would help Saracens and Ospreys a great deal in Pool 5.

The teams:

Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Robert Barbieri, 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 Valerio Bernabo, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Marco Filippucci, 22 Edoardo Gori, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.

Biarritz: 15 Iain Balshaw, 14 Taku Ngwenya, 13 Benoît Baby, 12 Damien Traille, 11 Ilikena Bolakoro, 10 Marcelo Bosch, 9 Yann Lesgourgues, 8 Florian Faure, 7 Talalelei Gray, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Pelu Taele, 4 Jérôme Thion, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Benoit August, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements: 16 Romain Terrain, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Sylvain Marconnet, 19 Jean-Baptiste Roidot, 20 Benoit Guyot, 21 Julien Peyrelongue, 22 Charles Gimenez, 23 Dane Haylett-Petty.

Date: Saturday, December 10
Kick-off: 14:30 (13:30 GMT)
Venue: Stadio Comunale di Monigo
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assessor: Tim Aplin (Ireland)

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