Franco Smith knows exactly what it takes to beat the Ospreys having steered his Benetton Treviso side to one victory over the reigning RaboDirect PRO12 champions already this season.
But the former Springbok stand-off, who played some rugby in Wales at Newport during his career, knows the flagship Welsh region will be a different proposition at home on Friday night in the Heineken Cup six weeks on from their 12-6 defeat in Italy.
Speaking at the Italian launch of the 2012/13 Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup at the Foro Italico in Rome this week Smith outlined his dream of becoming the first coach to guide an Italian team into the quarter-finals of Europe's top tournament.
"The last couple of years have been about gaining respect. Last season, we were unlucky to lose against Saracens, unlucky just to draw with Ospreys and we beat Biarritz," recalled Smith, whose side have found themsellves in this season's 'Pool of Death' with Toulouse and Leicester Tigers as well as the Ospreys.
"The benefit of this Pool is that any one team is capable of beating another, so it's going to be extremely tight. It is undoubtedly another difficult Pool for us but, once again, we don't have that much to lose.
"We want to be the first Italian club in the history of the tournament to qualify for the knockout stages. We even want to create a mentality within the squad of actually winning the Heineken Cup.
"That's certainly one of the ways we want to raise the bar among our players. I believe that over the past few seasons we've become a better prepared side and we're excited about the challenge that lies ahead."
The Ospreys had Wales lock Ian Evans sent off in Treviso on the opening night of the domestic season and suffered as a result. They lost their first three games, but have ominously hit their straps in recent weeks, taking the Scarlets unbeaten record in Llanelli, hammering Munster at home and winning handsomely at Zebre last weekend.
"It's all about creating belief among the players. We've beaten some top sides at home, we're played some good rugby away from home, and now we've got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves," said Smith, whose side warmed-up for the trip to the Liberty Stadium with a wonderful away win over last season's Heineken Cup semi-finalists Edinburgh at Murrayfield..
"We need to be tougher to go and compete against sides like Toulouse and Leicester. If you've been the underdog, and if you've underperformed for much of your career, you've got a problem.
"Italian players have caught up technically and physically over the past three years, and now we need to focus more on the mental aspect. We don't want to be dominated in any way this season.
"We'll be striving more to play rugby on our terms and we have to be defensively stronger. There's no way we'll be giving away four tries in every game."
Zebre make their tournament bow in Pool 3 on Saturday when they host fellow PRO12 outfit Connacht at Stadio XXV Aprile. The Irish side have already won at the ground once this season, 30-17 last month, and have yet to win in their five games to date since forming in the summer.
After Connacht, they travel to France to face Biarrtiz Olympique in Round 2 before tackloing reigning English champions Harlequins later in the competition.
