It's now or never for Ospreys
The Ospreys will be looking to keep their unbeaten record against Italian sides when they host Benetton Treviso, who they drew with the last times the sides met.
The Welsh side’s hopes of a quarterfinal place are slim, with Saracens and Biarritz in pole position to fight it out for a place in the knock-out stages, but they can still have a major impact on who does qualify.
The Ospreys will be determine to keep their 100 percent record against Italian opposition and to re-establish their winning record at ‘Fortress Liberty’ in the Heineken Cup after their home 13-16 defeat to Saracens last time out.
The Liberty Stadium outfit failed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the tournament for the first time in three years last season and face ignominy of doing the same this season.
Treviso, who have never made it out of the pool stages in the tournament, will be looking to go one better and will be looking for their first win against their fellow Pro12 outfit after their draw on Italian soil.
The teams:
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 (captain), 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 20 Chauncey 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, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Valerio Bernabo, 4 Gonzalo Padrò, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
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.
Date: Friday, January 13
Venue: Liberty Stadium
Kick-off: 20.00 (20.00 GMT)
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
