Assi earns first start for Provence

Leandro Assi will make his first ever start in the Pro D2 on Friday evening as his new club Provence face off against Beziers. The tighthead prop arrived from Argentina just two weeks ago as a medical joker for injured hooker Denis Fogarty. It looks to be a tough match for the Aix-Marseille club, as they currently sit in the relegation zone in 15th out of 16 spots, with Beziers the exact opposite in 2nd place on the log.

This will not be Assi’s first exposure to professional rugby, having spent several months as a 20-year-old with Venezia in the Italian Eccellenza during the 2009-10 season. In more recent seasons he has been a regular for Belgrano in the Buenos Aires club competition. He made his debut off the bench in the win over Perpignan last weekend.

The Argentine is one of several overseas players name in the squad. Fijian World Cup prop Campese Ma’afu starts on the other side of the front row, with giant Lithuanian Karolis Navickas behind at lock. Former Tonga u20 captain Paula Havea is at no8, and Belgian international Julien Berger at scrumhalf. Senegal test prop Ousmane Ndiaye is on the bench along with Irish tighthead Alan Cotter, while two more Fijians are present – uncapped winger Evi Naioko in the starting lineup and former international utility back Marika Vakacegu in the reserves.

PROVENCE v Beziers
1 Campese Ma’afu 2 Florian Lescadieu 3 Leandro Assi 4 Anthony Potente 5 Karolis Navickas 6 Lucas Guillaume 7 Loïc Verdy 8 Paula Havea 9 Julien Berger 10 Sylvain Bouillon 11 Evi Naioko 12 Jerome Jacquet 13 Baptiste Hecker 14 Anthony Poujol 15 Lucas Levy

16 Romain Colliat 17 Ousmane Ndiaye 18 Romain Longépée 19 Yassine Maamry 20 Sonny Cecot 21 Marika Vakacegu 22 Eddy Labarthe 23 Alan Cotter