Edinburgh v Treviso - RaboDirect PRO12 match preview

Antonio Pavanello: Starts for Treviso against Edinburgh

Michael Bradley: Has named a strong side for Edinburgh's clash with Treviso

Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley has named a strong side to tackle Treviso at Murrayfield as the club target a return to winning ways in the PRO12.

The Italians have taken notable scalps this season, stunning the division with their opening defeat of champions, Ospreys, followed by last week's win against the then pace-setting Scarlets.

Alongside the returning David Denton are openside flanker Roddy Grant and number eight Dimitri Basilaia, who gets his first start for Edinburgh.

Hooker and Scotland captain, Ross Ford, comes back into the squad with tighthead prop WP Nel, to join forces with Allan Jacobsen in the front-row, while lock Grant Gilchrist reforms a familiar second-row partnership with Sean Cox.

Fly-half Greig Laidlaw returns to captain the side and partners scrum-half Chris Leck, who gets his first start of the season, while Matt Scott returns to partner Ben Atiga in midfield and Lee Jones comes on to the wing.

Alberto Sgarbi and Tommaso Benvenuti make up the centres for Treviso with Tommaso Iannone and Tobias Botes on the wing.

Simone Favaro returns and wears the club's number six jersey. Antonio Pavanello and Francesco Minto both start while Enrico Ceccato, Alberto De Marchi and Julius Kennedy are on the bench.

Edinburgh: 15 G Tonks, 14 L Jones, 13 M Scott, 12 B Atiga, 11 T Visser, 10 G Laidlaw (c), 9 C Leck, 8 D Basilaia, 7 R Grant, 6 D Denton, 5 S Cox, 4 G Gilchrist, 3 WP Nel, 2 R Ford, 1 A Jacobsen. Replacements: 16 A Titterrell, 17 J Yapp, 18 L Niven, 19 N Talei, 20 R Rennie, 21 R Rees, 22 J Houston, 23 D Fife.

Treviso: 15 L McLean, 14 T Iannone, 13 T Benvenuti, 12 A Sgarbi, 11 T Botes, 10 A Di Bernardo, 9 F Semenzato

8 R Barbieri, 7 A Zanni, 6 S Favaro, 5 F Minto, 4 A Pavanello (cpt), 3 L Cittadini, 2 L Ghiraldini, 1 M Rizzo. Replacements: 16 E Ceccato, 17 A De Marchi, 18 P Di Santo, 19 V Bernabo, 20 D Budd, 21 P Derbyshire, 22 K Burton, 23 G Toniolatti

What they said...

Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley

"We always enjoy playing at home, and played well against Treviso here last season (Edinburgh won the match 44-21), so we're looking forward to the match and the opportunity to get our campaign back on the front foot for our home fans," he said.

"Treviso are a strong, physical, team and have more than half the Italian national side, so we certainly don't want to get into an arm wrestle with them.

"Our focus will be on retaining our shape and our width and putting pressure on them in the wide channels, something which characterises our style of play.

"We'd certainly prefer to go into the Heineken Cup having won our previous match however this game's importance lies with the RaboDirect PRO12 and our ambition to climb the table and make the play-offs."

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