BENETTON TREVISO coach Franco Smith’s decision to change eight of the team that beat the Ospreys 12-6 last weekend in Italy and include six forwards among the replacement’s for tonight’s match offers an insight into his mindset.
He’s anticipating a corrosively physical contest up front while content to rotate his playing resources. Only two of the pack are retained, hooker Enrico Ceccato and flanker Simone Favaro while Brendan Williams and debutant Luca Morisi come into the back line. It smacks a little of travelling in hope rather than expectation.
That’s not to denigrate the quality of those who are being promoted to the starting team; most are Italian internationals. Munster coach Rob Penney presided over a gutsy victory last weekend in Edinburgh. The players applied themselves to the task diligently and reaped the reward.
The home side will be looking to continue in the same vein. Early indicators are that the embryonic midfield partnership of James Downey and Casey Laulala is a decent fit; the former traverses gain-lines while the New Zealander offers intelligent running lines and shrewd offloading.
Ian Keatley should be pleased with his contribution and not just in terms of place-kicking. The back line functioned smoothly and, in Shannon’s Luke O’Dea, Munster possess a gem that might not need a huge amount of buffing.
Cork Constitution tighthead prop Stephen Archer faces a proper test of his scrum credentials. Treviso might consider competing on the Munster throw as the home side isn’t fielding the tallest back five combination.
The Italian side will probably feel their way into this match to a certain extent and there’s no doubt Munster can make rugby life a little more straight forward in terms of eking out a result if they start quickly tonight.
MUNSTER: D Hurley; D Howlett (capt), C Laulala, J Downey, L O'Dea; I Keatley, D Williams; W du Preez, D Varley, S Archer; Donncha O'Callaghan, B Holland; Dave O'Callaghan, S Dougall, J Coughlan. Replacements: M Sherry, D Kilcoyne, BJ Botha, D Foley, P Butler, P Stringer, S Deasy, I Dineen.
BENETTON TREVISO:B Williams; L Nitoglia, A Sgarbi, L Morisi, T Iannone; A Di Bernardo, E Gori; M Rizzo, E Ceccato, L Cittadini; A Pavanello (capt), V Berabo; S Favaro, D Budd, P Derbyshire. Replacements: G Maistri, A De Marchi, I Fernandez-Rouyet, C Van Zyl, R Barbieri, A Zanni, F Semenzato, K Burton.
Referee: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland) Verdict: Munster to win.
