Northampton v Treviso: Teams
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder has warned against any complacency when taking on Treviso on Saturday.
Last Updated: 11/12/09 4:23pm
Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder has warned against any complacency ahead of his team's Heineken Cup match against Treviso on Saturday.
The Italian champions come to Franklin's Gardens on the back of a two-month winning streak and with Perpignan's scalp already in their European bag.
Furthermore they led Munster for 40 minutes at Thomond Park in Round Two.
In the past Italian teams have been regarded as the smaller teams in the Heineken Cup, but Mallinder says Treviso no longer fall into this category.
"Treviso showed when they beat Perpignan that they have to be taken seriously and followed that up with a good performance at Munster," he said.
"We have not been underestimating them in our preparations this week and will be treating them with plenty of respect when the whistle blows tomorrow afternoon.
"Already our pool is proving to be very tight and home wins will be crucial. We want a positive result tomorrow afternoon but we know we will have to improve a lot from last week's game against Bath."
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Joe Ansbro, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Neil Best, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Santiago Bonorino, 19 Juandre Kruger, 20 Scott Gray, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Chris Mayor.
Treviso: 15 L McLean, 14 A Vilk, 13 A Sgarbi, 12 G Garcia, 11 T Botes, 10 M Goosen; 9 F Semenzato, 1 M Rizzo, 2 L Ghiraldini, 3 I Fernandez Rouyet, 4 A Pavanello (capt), 5 C van Zyl, 6 B Vermaak, 7 A Zanni, 8 D Kingi.
Replacements: 16 D Vidal, 17 L Cittadini, 18 A Allori, 19 E Pavanello, 20 E Ceccato, 21 S Picone, 22 F Waters, 23 E Mulieri.
