There is a a long list of 11 unavailable players, which has hampered the choices of the technical staff. The back row is particularly problematic, Barbieri, Barbini and Zanni are already injured; Zanini is now also injured and Budd has flown to New Zealand because of a family bereavement. There remains only Lazzaroni, Steyn and Minto in the back row, with Minto also suffering with a flu virus that forced him out of the match against Scarlets.
The team will line up as follows: Luke McLean will wear 15, taking the place of the injured Jayden Hayward (muscle problem), with Angelo Esposito and Andrea Buondonno wings. The centres will be made up of Tommaso Benvenuti and captain Alberto Sgarbi.
Edoardo Gori is the scrum half and Tommaso Allan is the fly half.
The pack will composed of Alberto De Marchi, Ornel Gega and Simone Ferrari. Locks are Filo Paulo and Marco Fuser. Finally the back row consists of Francesco Minto, Marco Lazzaroni and Abraham Steyn with the number 8 shirt.
Benetton Rugby:
15 Luke McLean, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi (C), 11 Andrea Buondonno, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Marco Lazzaroni, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Filo Paulo , 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Luke Bigi, 17 Matteo Zanusso, 18 Cherif Traore, 19 Filippo Gerosa, 20 Andrea Pratichetti, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 David Odiete
Head Coach: Kieran Crowley
Unavailble: Marty Banks, Robert Barbieri, Marco Barbini, Dean Budd, Filippo Filippetto, Jayden Hayward, Jean-Francois Montauriol, Luca Morisi, Nicola Quaglio, Alessandro Zanni.
Referee: Ian Davies (WRU)
Assistants: Rhys Thomas (WRU), Dunx McClement (SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)
TMO: Gareth Simmonds (WRU)
TELEVISION COVERAGE - live streaming on www.therugbychannel.it
LIVE - The game can be followed on the official Twitter page of Benetton Rugby.
