Scarlets head coach Simon Easterby is eyeing up Treviso as a turning point to their season, as the Welsh region look to avoid five straight RaboDirect PRO12 defeats. Easterby’s side head to Italy on Saturday off the back of four consecutive league defeats – and they haven’t suffered five on the trot since 2008. They have picked up two away wins this season, at Edinburgh in round four and Connacht in round eight, but Treviso have fallen to defeat just once at Stadio Monigo since round one. Scarlets are able to welcome a handful of players back into the fold, as the RaboDirect PRO12 makes its return following a four-week break. Adam Warren comes into the side at inside centre and it is all change in the front row, with Phil John, Kirby Myhill and Jacobie Adriaanse lining up on Saturday. Josh Turnbull and John Barclay join captain Rob McCusker in the back row and Easterby is hoping to see a more experienced outfit bring home the points. “We've spoken as a team about how we've put ourselves in this position, however I'm confident that we can go on and get the necessary results,” said Easterby. “There are ten games left in this campaign and the next four games are crucial as to whether we can play beyond those ten or not. That's the challenge ahead of us and it's most certainly not outside of our capabilities. “We've had some really good results against Treviso but we've also had some times where we've come a little unstuck. “There are a number of players missing from both teams but we can hopefully go there with confident and ambition to get the result to keep us in this competition. Unless we have that attitude it's going to be a difficult win. I'm confident we can do that.” Despite Treviso’s formidable home record, they slipped to a 14-12 defeat at the hands of fellow Italian outfit Zebre in their last RaboDirect PRO12 clash. And on the four occasions they have met Welsh opposition in this season’s competition, they have failed to secure victory each time. They can boast four wins in these sides’ seven previous RaboDirect PRO12 meetings, but a big performance may be necessary to maintain that advantage, with international call-ups hitting the Treviso squad. Head coach Marius Goosen has been forced to turn to a few players from surrounding clubs Padua and Mogliano to compensate for those lost to Jacques Brunel’s Italy squad. And they will be reliant on the experience of prop Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet and scrum-half Fabio Semenzato, who mark their 101st and 150th Treviso caps respectively. At Stadio Monigo, 2pm local time (1pm UK & Ireland). Live on Mediaset. Referee: Lloyd Linton (WRU, 2nd competition game) Assistant Referees: Claudio Blessano, Stefano Traversi (both FIR) Citing Commissioner: Stefano Marrama (FIR) TMO: Alan Falzone (FIR)
