Treviso - 2011/2012 Season

A review looking at Treviso's chances in the new season. Last season they turned out to be the surprise package of the year and all things considered had a fairly good return in the league given their new status. One of the smallest packs in the league but technically very good. The biggest surprise in the offseason is that they have not recruited heavily so it’s difficult to judge if they will improve on last season. I would have thought with the Bennetton Group backing them cash wouldn’t be as much of an issue but I did read somewhere the Italian Union is making it more difficult for them to just go out and sign anyone and given the amount of Italians Aironi have bought there are not to many players left in other leagues to target.

New players this season:-
Alberto di Bernardo – Fly Half

For me Alberto is likely to be a cover at 10 more than actually challenging for a starting spot. They currently have 13 players with Italy at the moment. The pack though is still looking fairly good and should do well in the opening exchanges of the season. I do have question marks over if they can improve on last seasons results. Similarly to Aironi they too will focus heavily on the league to make sure they have a chance to re-sign a new contract with the Rabbo next year.

I’m hoping to see this lineup a fair few times this year:-

1. Allori
2. Ghiraldini
3. Cittadini
4. Pavanello (C)
5. Van Zyl
6. Barbieri
7. Zanni
8. Vosawai

9. Botes
10. Burton
11. de Jager
12. Sgarbi
13. Benvenuti
14. Williams
15. McLean

So for them Zanni will be a key player this year. He’s a tremendous player who always impresses me when I see him play. I hope Benvenuti can continue where he left off but generally second season syndrome can usually hit even the most promising youngsters. Botes will be their points machine again this year and with a mobile pack and the fabulous 5000 home crowd I suspect they will keep teams honest again this year.

Prediction – Not much change from last season. They started strongly in the ML/Rabbo last year but as teams got stronger towards the end of the season they ended up 10th. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion the lack of recruitment will not help them develop their game enough this year and I think sides will do their homework on them. Think it might be a 11th finish for them this year. Admittedly I have placed Aironi higher in my predictions (which I admit is silly given they only won one game last season) but given the solid recruitments their rivals have made its not totally impossible. I do think the point margin in the league wont be massive from top to bottom so bonus points will likely have a big impact in the final league standings.

I'll do Scottish, Welsh and Irish teams in the following weeks.....

Fair play, mushroom, a lot of hard work has gone into what looks to be an interesting series - thanks

Thanks - its an interesting topic and really hard to judge this year as I have no clue if the various Unions will give their World Cup players time off after and how much that will be. As it stands players are already missing a Qtr of the season and with some additional time off they may actually only be available half of the games. That in itself could see some big upsets.

What I have been impressed with though is the Italian supporters at Treviso & Aironi. They seem to create a really good atmosphere there. Lets make them a permanent addition to the League I say

I don't really think the Bennetton Group do give them loads of money.

Aironi are really called MontePaschi Aironi (MPS Aironi) as they are sponsered by a bank (don't know if this name applies to the H-cup only) also Bennetton Treviso rebranded as Leoni Treviso to represent a region rather than being a club.

Still see them called Bennetton Treviso, on kits and branding etc so not sure about all the names of the Italian teams. Both teams appear just to have a sponor in there name like NEC Harlequins did, but with Treviso it does go deeper as they are owned by Bennetton and its been a very long term thing.

Would like an Italian who knows about all this to clear it up.

However on to the league side I see both Italians strugging this year with so many players called up for WC and 6N's, Scotish teams will suffer the same, therefore I see Connacht pulling away from them a bit this year, and the bottom 4 being Treviso, Edinburgh, Aironi and Glasgow being bottom.

Firstly great job on the post and I hope you keep it up This will get more interess with the other teams, is there actually fans from Italy on here??

By all rights Aironi should be ahead of them this yearbut that should have been the case last year so who knows this year. Both teams are well capable of baeting anyone on their day and i hope they build on it this year.

great job mushroom!