Ospreys v Treviso: Teams

Jonathan Thomas: Cleared to start on the bench

The Ospreys will look to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals when they entertain Treviso.

With Saracens and Biarritz in control of the pool, the Welsh side's hopes of reaching the Heineken Cup last eight appear unlikely.

However they can still have an impact on the group and snatch a place in the second tier competition.

"We've still got something to play for in Europe and we'll strive for that," said Ospreys head coach Sean Holley.

"We're going to try and finish as strongly as we can and then see what happens at the outcome.

"We're still smarting at the Saracens games, we gave them a head start, but we can't dwell on that, we've got to look at these next two games now and getting as much as we can out of them.

Permutations

"It's about giving a good account of ourselves and at least putting ourselves in a position where should all the other permutations work out we are well placed. If they don't, then we at least need to be in the best position to achieve an Amlin place, which could be on the cards."

Ryan Jones (calf), James King (ear), Richard Fussell (ankle), Alun Wyn Jones (foot) and Nikki Walker (knee) have all been ruled out of the clash through injury, while George Stowers has been banned for four weeks.

Jonathan Thomas is free to take his place on the bench, though, after he was cleared of making a dangerous tackle.

Treviso will look to build on their early 13-13 draw against Ospreys when they travel to Swansea.

Andrea Pratichetti, Tommaso Iannone, Edoardo Gori, Valerio Bernabo, Paul Derbyshire and Marco Filippucci coming into the starting XV for the Italians, while Brendan Williams moves to full-back and Gonzalo Padro switches to the second row.

Ospreys: 15 Barry Davies, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Andrew Bishop, 12 Ashley Beck, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Joe Bearman, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Tom Smith, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Huw Bennett, 17 Ryan Bevington 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20Chauncey O'Toole, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Matthew Morgan, 23 Tom Isaacs.

Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Andrea Pratichetti, 11 Tommaso Iannone, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 1 Michele Rizzo, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 4 Gonzalo Padrò, 5 Valerio Bernabo, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 8 Marco Filippucci.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Augusto Allori, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Cornelius van Zyl, 20 Benjamin Vermaak , 21 Simon Picone, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Tobias Botes.