Guinness Pro12: Benetton Treviso v Ulster (today, Stadio Comunale di Monigo, 5.05pm BST, live on BBC2 NI)
AFTER his two-try competitive debut from the bench last Friday night, young Academy winger Ross Lyttle’s dream will continue in Italy today when he makes his first start for the province.
The 19-year-old came in for Craig Gilroy after just 15 minutes at Kingspan last weekend and rewarded Les Kiss with a score in each half, including his side’s opener off Ruan Pienaar’s inventive kick through that sparked them into life.
He will take his place on the right wing, with fellow Academy product Jacob Stockdale – who also got on the scoresheet last weekend – continuing on the opposite side.
Stockdale made his breakthrough last year, though he wasn’t part of the matchday squad that travelled to northern Italy in January as the hosts suffered what was then a 26th straight defeat.
A fortnight later they ended that run against Cardiff Blues and went on to beat the Dragons and eventual champions Connacht before the season’s end.
“It’s a tough game. Going away to Italy, your mind’s maybe not set on what it should be and they’re quite a dogged team. We’re going to have to really take our chances and be clinical,” said Stockdale.
“For me, [this season] is about getting on the pitch as much as I can and pushing towards the starting team. Saying that, there’s a lot of competition and a lot of fantastic players that are ahead of me, so it’s just about working hard.
“As a team, we’re looking to go as far in every competition as we can and hopefully win some silverware.”
Centre Stuart Olding will make his 50th cap for the province while summer signing Kieran Treadwell will make his debut in place of Pete Browne in the second row.
In all there are six changes from the side that took the field in the 29-8 victory over Newport Gwent Dragons last Friday.
Olding will shift from outside to inside centre and will be joined in midfield by fellow Irish international Luke Marshall, who comes into the starting side for Stuart McCloskey.
Lyttle and Stockdale are included in the back three with the returning Louis Ludik, who comes in for the injured Charles Piutau, who suffered a thumb injury last Friday.
Rob Herring will again captain the side from hooker and he will be joined in the front row by the recalled Kyle McCall and Rodney Ah You, the latter having completed the return to play guidelines following a delayed onset concussion in the final pre-season outing against Northampton.
The back row trio of Clive Ross, Sean Reidy and Roger Wilson, which performed so effectively last week, have all been retained, while man of the match and talk of the town last weekend, Ruan Pienaar, will once again line out alongside Brett Herron at half back.
Darren Cave and Stuart McCloskey are among those named on the bench, with former Trinity College youngster Angus Lloyd acting as scrum-half cover for what could be his competitive debut.
The Italians unsurprisingly make just one change from the team that pushed Leinster so hard for the full 80 minutes in the RDS last weekend.
The change is a fairly significant one, though, with captain Alessandro Zanni ruled out because of a knee injury suffered in that game. Marco Barbini replaces him at number eight.
Team News
Ulster: L Ludik; R Lyttle, L Marshall, S Olding, J Stockdale; B Herron, R Pienaar; K McCall, R Herring, R Ah You; K Treadwell, F van der Merwe; C Ross, S Reidy, R Wilson
Replacements: J Andrew, A Warwick, R Kane, P Browne, R Diack, A Lloyd, S McCloskey, D Cave
Treviso: J Hayward; A Esposito, T Benvenuti, L McLean, A Buondonno; T Allan, G Bronzini; N Quaglio, O Gega, S Ferrari; M Fuser, F Paulo; F Minto, M Lazzaroni, M Barbini
Replacements: R Santamaria, A de Marchi, T Pasquali, F Gerosa, D Budd, E Gori, I McKinley, D Odiete
