Heads back to sun

the bag, if they can claim two maximum hauls against the improved Italians and results between Toulon and Bath fall in their favour, head coach Wayne Pivac and his players feel they can be back in the mix come the new year.

“There is a big pressure on us to come away with a couple of big victories to even have a sniff, but I think we have got the ability,” insisted Davies.

“Hopefully we can start off Saturday with a bang.”

Pivac, though, knows he has a careful balancing act on his hands over the coming weeks.

Jon Davies and Jake Ball are longterm injury absentees, Samson Lee is still nursing an Achilles issue, while Aaron Shingler is being rested.

Scott Williams is also unlikely to feature in the starting line-up against Benetton, meaning more responsibility on the shoulders of new Wales cap Hadleigh Parkes, who made a stunning two-try international debut against the Springboks.

“He was outstanding, he had a cracking debut and I didn’t expect anything less from him,” added Davies.

“He performs at that level week-in, week-out for the Scarlets, it was just another day at the office for him.”