Ospreys head coach Steve Tandy admits he’s relishing the return of the RaboDirect PRO12 after handing a debut to scrum-half Tito Tebaldi for their opening game against Treviso. Benetton Treviso begin the season at home for the fourth successive year and must be hoping to repeat 2012/13 when they also beat Ospreys at Stadiodi Monigo 12-6. Treviso have lost just one of their last seven RaboDirect PRO12 encounters and have won their last five home games against Welsh regions in all competitions. Ospreys finished off last season with a pair of defeats to Glasgow and Leinster, whilst their only previous loss to an Italian side in the PRO12 came in this equivalent fixture last campaign. The two teams met on four occasions last year, including two in the European Cup, with all four encounters being won by the home side on the day. However, Tandy admits both sides will be stepping into the unknown with Tebaldi making his first start for Ospreys and Jeff Hassler in line to make his debut off the bench. “This time of year is an exciting one,” he said. “We've got new faces in the group, so have the opposition, and there's always an element of the unknown about these first few games because every club approaches the first few weeks of the season differently. “As far as we are concerned, it's crucial that we start the season better than we did last time. Three defeats early on left us with too much to do in terms of securing a top four spot, so we have to make sure we get off to a better start. “If we can get our performance level right, if we know our roles, then we can be competitive. We'll focus on the things that we can control, and hopefully we can build on what we did last season. We've got an exciting, young group of players with a fantastic attitude, who have a real pride in representing the region, and if we pull together, we can have an enjoyable season.” While new faces always mark the start of a new campaign there are still plenty of familiar names in the Ospreys ranks with Joe Bearman making his 50th appearance, though the Welsh side are without seven players through injury. Treviso name 14 Italian internationals in their starting XV with full-back Brendan Williams the only man not to have represented the Azzurri. And after enjoying a flying start to last season, coach Franco Smith wants to start his final season in charge in similar fashion. “We've always moved and looked to get better and part our thinking was keep the players who did a great job for us last year and build on that and take a lot of experience again into the season,” he said. “Last part of the season for us was a big turnaround from the year before. We played well or very well without our internationals. We managed to beat Munster and drew with Ulster away. That set the tone for a good finish and our last game against the Scarlets was a highlight for us. “We took a lot of positives from last season and we want to implement it into our preparations for this season. “Our execution must be better. Last year we were the team that created the most rucks in the opposition's 22. “We don't want to create rucks we want to score tries so we must go one step further and see if we cannot get over the white line a bit more often and be a little bit more precise.” At Stadio Monigo, 7.30pm local time (6.30pm UK & Ireland) Live on MEDIASET/S4 Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU, 53rd competition game) Assistant Referees: Giuseppe Vivarini, Stefano Traversi (both FIR) Citing Commissioner: Achille Reali (FIR) TMO: Carlo Damasco (FIR)
