Recent Ireland debutants Jacob Stockdale and Kieran Treadwell will make their first starts of the season in northern Italy as Ulster look to make it two wins out of two in the revamped GUINNESS PRO14.
GUINNESS PRO14: Saturday, September 9
BENETTON RUGBY (6th, Con B) v ULSTER (2nd, Con B), Stadio di Monigo, 6.05pm local time/5.05pm Irish time (live BBC 2 Northern Ireland)
Team News: Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss has welcomed the return of Ireland internationals Jacob Stockdale, Kieran Treadwell and Luke Marshall for Saturday’s GUINNESS PRO14 match against Benetton Rugby in Treviso.
With players continuing to return from representative duty with Ireland and the Lions, plus the ongoing management of playing resources, Kiss has made five personnel changes to the matchday 23 that defeated the Toyota Cheetahs in the Championship opener last weekend.
Stockdale and Treadwell, who both made their Ireland debuts during the summer tour of the USA and Japan, have been included in the starting XV, while Marshall is also in line to make his first Ulster appearance of the season as he is named among the replacements.
Stockdale is the sole personnel change in the starting back-line that contributed four of the province’s six tries against the Cheetahs, as he comes in to join captain Andrew Trimble and Louis Ludik in the back-three.
Summer signings John Cooney and Christian Lealiifano continue their half-back partnership, while Stuart McCloskey and Tommy Bowe, who both touched down against the South African franchise, are also retained in midfield.
The 21-year-old Treadwell will wear the number five jersey as he combines with Robbie Diack in the second row, with loosehead prop Callum Black coming in alongside Rob Herring and Wiehahn Herbst in the front row.
Ballymena clubman Matthew Rea (pictured below), who earned his first Ulster cap as a replacement last Friday, is given a start at blindside flanker, with Sean Reidy at openside and Jean Deysel – the man-of-the-match against the Cheetahs – packing down at number 8.
David Shanahan and Peter Nelson provide the back-line cover along with Marshall, while John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Rodney Ah You, Peter Browne and Chris Henry make up the forward options on the bench. Paul Marshall has been unavailable over the past two weeks due to family circumstances.
Meanwhile, Benetton Rugby boss Kieran Crowley has an early season injury crisis on his hands with a total of 19 players currently unavailable. Kiwi out-half Marty Banks, who kicked their only points against Munster last week, has joined the list of absentees.
Prop Marco Riccioni is the latest player to the sidelined, reporting a meniscal injury in his right knee which will be operated on next week. With Dead Budd sidelined this week, centre Alberto Sgarbi comes in to captain Benetton against Ulster.
Sgarbi is one of three personnel changes with full-back Jayden Hayward also set for his first start of the 2017/18 campaign. There are two positional switches in the rejigged back-line as Ian McKinley reverts to out-half and Tommaso Benvenuti moves to the left wing.
The Italians line up with the same front row and back row, while Budd’s absence in the second row is covered by talented 23-year-old Federico Ruzza, who won his first two Italy caps earlier this year against Scotland and Fiji.
BENETTON RUGBY: Jayden Hayward; Angelo Esposito, Alberto Sgarbi (capt), Tommaso Allan, Tommaso Benvenuti; Ian McKinley, Tito Tebaldi; Federico Zani, Luca Bigi, Simone Ferrari, Marco Lazzaroni, Federico Ruzza, Francesco Minto, Sebastian Negri, Whetu Douglas.
Replacements: Engjel Makelara, Cherif Traore, Tiziano Pasquali, Marco Barbini, Braam Steyn, Giorgio Bronzini, Edoardo Gori, Marco Zanon.
ULSTER: Louis Ludik; Andrew Trimble (capt), Tommy Bowe, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Christian Lealiifano, John Cooney; Callum Black, Rob Herring, Wiehahn Herbst, Robbie Diack, Kieran Treadwell, Matthew Rea, Sean Reidy, Jean Deysel.
Replacements: John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Rodney Ah You, Peter Browne, Chris Henry, David Shanahan, Peter Nelson, Luke Marshall.
Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)
Assistant Referees: Ian Davies (Wales), Claudio Blessano (Italy)
Television Match Official: Sean Brickell (Wales)
Match Odds (Paddy Power): Benetton Rugby to win: 9/2; Draw: 25/1; Ulster to win: 1/7
Pre-Match Quotes: Rob Herring (Ulster) – “(Scrum coach) Aaron Dundon has brought a lot of new drills and ideals which creates a bit of energy, I’ve really enjoyed it. I think we have a good base to work off from last season and it’s just fine-tuning a few things now to take it to the next level.
“Immediately when we came in we realised how good a coach Jono (Gibbes) is and again he has brought new ideas and energy and he’s challenging us in new ways especially with the forward pack. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it out of us, the response from the guys towards that has been good and that’s promising for the season.
“Especially after the pre-season games, it was a much improved performance (last week) and the changing room was a lot happier (after the 42-19 bonus point win over the Cheetahs). In the first two pre-season games we showed little glimpses of how we wanted to play but we didn’t bring it altogether.
“The Cheetahs game was a step in the right direction and a more complete game, as a squad we played a lot better. Marcell (Coetzee) and Jean (Deysel) had something like 30 carries between the two of them. I think having guys like that getting over the gain-line and being really direct opens up other options for us around that.
“I thought our phase play was really good against the Cheetahs and a lot of it was down to those big ball carriers. So, more of the same this weekend and that’s how we want to play this season.
“We know we usually under-perform over there (in Italy) and at Treviso it’s all about putting in another big performance. The challenge for us in the past few seasons has been when we go away to Italy the intensity of our game tends to drop and I think this season we’ve been challenged a lot harder on that.
“I can’t see it happening this week and we just have to put in the same performance that we managed against the Cheetahs. It’s away from home and hopefully we come up with another win and keep the ball rolling.”
Top Scorers – 2017/18 GUINNESS PRO14: Benetton Rugby – Points: Marty Banks 3; Tries: -; Ulster – Points: John Cooney 10; Tries: Tommy Bowe, Stuart McCloskey, Charles Piutau, Alan O’Connor, Louis Ludik, Peter Nelson 1 each
2017/18 TEAM FORM: Benetton Rugby – Played 1, Lost 1, 0 Points; L 34-3 v Munster (away); Ulster – Played 1, Won 1, 5 Points; W 42-19 v Toyota Cheetahs (home)
PREVIOUS MEETINGS:
Sunday, January 11, 2015 – Benetton Rugby 20 Ulster 20, Stadio di Monigo
Friday, February 13, 2015 – Ulster 43 Benetton Rugby 3, Kingspan Stadium
Friday, October 2, 2015 – Ulster 48 Benetton Rugby 7, Kingspan Stadium
Saturday, January 30, 2016 – Benetton Rugby 13 Ulster 21, Stadio di Monigo
Saturday, September 10, 2016 – Benetton Rugby 11 Ulster 22, Stadio di Monigo
Friday, March 3, 2017 – Ulster 19 Benetton Rugby 7, Kingspan Stadium
MATCH FACTS:
– Benetton Rugby’s last six matches in the GUINNESS PRO14 have been evenly shared with three wins and three defeats. The Italians have not lost successive fixtures since March
– Benetton have won two of their last three matches at Stadio di Monigo but have not beaten an Irish province at any venue since Connacht visited Treviso in April 2016
– Ulster have won their last two PRO14 matches, against Leinster and the Toyota Cheetahs, but both games were played in Belfast
– The Ulstermen have won just twice on the road since early December, at Zebre in February and at the Dragons in March
– Benetton’s only previous victory over Ulster in any competition was 23-12 in Belfast in the PRO14 in October 2011
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