By Jason Harris
December 2 2004

With the Zurich Premiership already half over, Saracens return to European action this weekend with a visit to the 3,400 capacity Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi to take on Italian side Overmach Rugby Parma. Sarries have had another disappointing first half to the league season but they will see Europe's second-tier competition as the likely way into next season's Heineken Cup.

Coach Rod Kafer, restricted by the player registration limits that saw Kevin Sorrell as emergency scrum half cover against Bayonne in the opening round, has named a strong side to travel to Italy and, at the same time, has been able to rest key players like Taine Randell, Richard Haughton and Kevin Yates.

The back line will be missing new recruit Glen Jackson who was not registered for the early rounds of the competition, so Mark Bartholomeusz retains the no10 starting berth he had at Leicester last weekend. Mosese Rauluni gets the nod at nine ahead of Morgan Williams who will provide specialist scrum half experience amont the replacements.

Thomas Castaignede starts at fullback and it is hoped that he will be more involved than he was in a failed experiment at Tigers when he played most of the game anonymously on the left wing as a last-minute replacement for Tevita Vaikona. Once again Vaikona is pencilled in for the no11 shirt and on the other wing will be Paul Bailey.

Nick Lloyd gets the chance to impress while Yates has a break and inbetween him and Cobus Visagie will be Andy Kyriacou who makes his first team debut for the Men in Black. Kris Chesney partners Iain Fullarton this week and Hugh Vyvyan locks the scrum. Two young flankers get starts but neither of them are "Jean Pierre Rives jr." aka David Seymour. The two Bens; Russell and Skriving, get their chance to impress Kafer and Diamond instead.

Parma have had a tough season in the permier Super 10 competition in Italy. With three wins from their nine games so far this term, they lie in eighth place althoug they did beat Leonessa in the Italian Cup last weekend.

The Italian side is made up mainly from home-grown or naturlised players and the star turn against Leonessa was Fiji and ex Wellington Hurricanes wing Sereli Bobo who joined Overmach to replace former Northampton flyer Orior Ripol, after the Spanish international returned to England to join Rotherham. Bobo is no stranger to Sarries scrum half Rauluni as they both played in last summer's tests played by the Pacific Islands select team. However, his participation is uncertain as he, like Jackson, may not have been registered for the competition.

Another player in the Parma squad with Super 12 experience is Samoan lock Leo Lefaiali'i who spent some time with the Auckland Blues under All Blacks coach Graham Henry and South African full back Godfried Dumond played previously for Natal in the Currie Cup.

One player that coach Alessandro Ghini will have to do without is lock Carlo Dal Fava who was banned for 10 weeks follwing his sending off against Centransa El Salvador in round one for stamping on an opponent's head. The good news for Ghini is that regular goal kicker, the Argentinian-born Italy A man Alejandro Canale should be fit to start alongside Italian international centre Giacomo Preo.

Saracens will - undoubtedly, given the relative weakness of the opposition - have one eye on the Powergen Cup match against Newcastle later in the month and motivation may prove a little difficult knowing that a win for the home side will be unlikely. However, motivated they must be as after three defeats on the bounce in the league, any sort of win will be most welcome down Watford way.