Clermont go in search of bonus point
Clermont Auvergne will be looking to pick up all the spoils when they clash with Aironi in Monza in a bid to keep their Heineken Cup quarterfinals place alive.
The French side need to come home from Italy with a bonus point victory to keep them in the hunt, along with Ulster and the Leicester Tigers, for a place in the knock-out stages.
Only three points separate the three sides in Pool 4 and the battle to see who qualifies for the last eight of the tournament promises to go down right to the wire and the final weekend of the Pool stages.
The Top 14 side will be wary of Aironi, who haven’t won a game in this season’s Pool so far, and their ability to cause a major upset whenever the Italians play on home soil.
Aironi, who are only in their second season in the Heineken Cup, famously beat Biarritz last season and recorded their first competitive victory as a franchise.
The teams:
Aironi: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giiulio Toniolatti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Alberto Benettin, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Nicola Cattina, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Romano, 2 Tommaso D’Apice, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Santamaria, 17 Andrea de Marchi, 18 Fabio Staibano, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Tyson Keats, 22 Matteo Pratichetti, 23 Gilberto Pavan.
Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Regan King, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen (captain), 7 Julien Bardy, 6 Alexandre Lapandry, 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Ti’i Paulo, 1 Vincent Debaty.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Lionel Faure, 18 Clément Ric, 19 Nathan Hines, 20 Julien Bonnaire, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Aurélien Rougerie, 23 Wesley Fofana.
Date: Saturday, January 14
Venue: Stadio Brianteo, Monza
Kick-off: 14.30 (13.30 GMT)
Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
