History making Treviso wary of Munster backlash

HISTORY makers they may be, but Benetton Treviso know their new-found status as Heineken Cup giant-killers will count for nothing as Munster look to take their frustration out on the Italians next Saturday.

Treviso gave Italian rugby its greatest moment in 14 seasons of Heineken Cup rugby on Saturday, defeating French champions Perpignan 9-8 in their opening game in Pool 1.

After a run of eight successive defeats in the tournament, Treviso finally proved they are a force to be reckoned with as three penalties from the 35-year-old South African-born outside half Marius Goosen carried them to victory.

Team manager Franco Properzi was full of praise for his team and claimed the victory “the greatest in our Heineken Cup history.”

Properzi said: “It was a great day for Treviso in the Heineken Cup and a significant day for Italian rugby.

“We’ve had some good results in the past, but in this game we beat the French champions – we’ve never done that before.

“It was a very hard game and it was made all the more difficult in the beginning because of the wet weather.’’

He added: “Now we have to go to Munster in the next round, which won’t be easy. They are one of the top teams in Europe and we know we are going to be the underdogs despite this victory. We will have to scrum as well as we did against Perpignan when we go to Ireland and we will have to hope that Cornelius Van Zyl can be as dominant in the line-out again.”