Treviso v Irish: Teams
London Irish are boosted by the return of Faan Rautenbach for their Heineken Cup trip to Benetton Treviso on Saturday.
Last Updated: 19/01/08 5:46pm
London Irish are boosted by the return of South African prop Faan Rautenbach for their Heineken Cup trip to Benetton Treviso on Saturday.
Rautenbach has been sidelined since early October with a leg injury, but will come back into an Exiles side that features eight changes from their bonus-point triumph over the Dragons last weekend.
The Londoners know that another bonus-point win sees them into the quarter finals as winners of Pool 1, although any kind of victory will ensure they take one of the two best-placed runners-up spots at worst.
With Rautenbach returning at tighthead, Tonga Lea'aetoa switches sides to loosehead, while Juan Leguizamon comes in at number eight with last week's hat-trick scorer Richard Thorpe moving to blindside flanker.
Elsewhere, Declan Danaher starts at openside flanker and the two new Argentine international backs, Gonzalo Tiesi and Tomas De Vedia, are handed starts at inside centre and right wing respectively.
In-form Shane Geraghty switches to number ten, forming a half-back partnership with fellow England international Peter Richards.
Coach Brian Smith insists he is expecting a tough test, despite the Italians languishing at the bottom of the Pool.
"We're under no illusions about the difficulty of the task that awaits us on Saturday," Smith stated. "Benetton Treviso are the leading team in Italy and have topped that country's Super 10 league for the last two seasons.
"They will be a different and difficult proposition on their home turf and have shown in their performances in the Pool to date just how determined they are to make an impact in the tournament."
Benetton Treviso: 15. Brendan Williams, 14. Lucas Borges, 13. Dale Heidtmann, 12. Marius Goosen (capt), 11. Benjamin De Jager, 10. Andrea Marcato, 9. Fabio Semenzato, 1. Nicolas De Gregori, 2. Franco Sbaraglini, 3. Salvatore Costanzo, 4. Roderick Labuschagne, 5. Cornelius Van Zyl, 6. Robert Barbieri, 7. Hottie Louw, 8. Dion Kingi
Replacements: 16. Diego Vidal, 17. Michael Barbieri, 18. Will Johnson, 19. Silvio Orlando, 20. Scott Palmer, 21. Emiliano Mulieri, 22. Alberto Sgarbi,
London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Tomas De Vedia, 13 Delon Armitage, 12 Gonzalo Tiesi, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 ShaneGeraghty, 9 Peter Richards, 8 Juan Leguizamon, 7 Declan Danaher, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 FaanRautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Tonga Lea'aetoa
Replacements: 16 Dan Murphy, 17 Danie Coetzee, 18 James Hudson, 19 Phil Murphy, 20 Steffon Armitage, 21 Paul Hodgson, 22 Eoghan Hickey
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)