The Scarlets achieved that aim last term as they enjoyed their best campaign since the league adopted a knockout format but they already face a huge battle to repeat that feat this time around.
Easterby’s troops are 17 points adrift of reigning champions Leinster, the side who occupy the fourth and final semi-final spot, while fifth-placed Glasgow Warriors are 10 points clear of the Scarlets with two games in hand.
Defeat in Italy would be a big blow to their chances of building on last year’s final-four defeat to Ulster at Ravenhill but Easterby is confident that the Scarlets can surprise the critics by starting a strong surge for the final 10 games of the campaign.
“We’ve spoken as a team about how we’ve put ourselves in this position but I’m confident that we can go on and get the necessary results,” said Easterby, whose men sit seventh in the standings after 12 rounds of action.
“There are 10 games left in this campaign and the next four games are crucial as to whether we can play beyond those 10 or not. That’s the challenge ahead of us and it’s most certainly not outside of our capabilities.
“We’ve had some really good results against Treviso but we’ve also had some times where we’ve come a little unstuck. There are a number of players missing from both teams but we can hopefully go there with confidence and ambition to get the result to keep us in this competition.”
Wales squad members Emyr Phillips and Samson Lee have been named on the replacements’ bench after being released from the national side that faces Ireland later today but Jon Davies won’t feature at the Stadio di Monigo.
Easterby names an entirely new front row from the side that lost at London Irish in the LV= Cup last week, with Phil John, Kirby Myhill and Jacobie Adriaanse all handed starts, while wing Kristian Phillips and centre Gareth Maule make a welcome return from injury.
Adam Warren replaces Gareth Owen at inside centre, with Aled Thomas looking to pull the strings at fly half while Josh Turnbull and John Barclay are named on the flanks for the trip to Italy.
Scarlets
15 Jordan Williams, 14 Kristian Phillips, 13 Gareth Maule, 12 Adam Warren, 11 Frazier Climo, 10 Aled Thomas, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Phil John, 2 Kirby Myhill, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 4 George Earle, 5 Richard Kelly, 6 Josh Turnbull, 7 John Barclay, 8 Rob McCusker ©
Replacements: Emyr Phillips, Rob Evans, Samson Lee, Johan Snyman, Lewis Rawlins, Aled Davies, Josh Lewis, Gareth Owen
