And with no outside centres available, including Ben Cohen whose collarbone injury was exacerbated by his performances for England in the autumn internationals, Spencer has moved into that role, where is has played before for Auckland Blues.

Head coach Paul Grayson said: “We have no centres and someone has got to fill the role. We are looking to play the game quickly and wide like we did against Leicester and Stephen Myler did so well, so we think he deserves another chance.

“It has been difficult for Carlos during the last few weeks and he has had a lot of pressure, so we are going to move him to the open spaces and see if Parma can cope with him.”

Spencer said: “I played a lot of my rugby as a young fella at 13. I know the position so it will be quite refreshing after 10 to 11 years in the No 10 shirt. It will revitalise me.”

On Myler, Spencer added: “From what I saw last week, he was exciting and has a great future ahead of him. But you cannot put too much pressure on the young lad.”

Myler said: “I don’t think I played fantastically well last week but I did what I had to do. The team helped me massively.

“Most people are going to expect us to beat Parma but we have got respect them and go out with the right attitude. We are going to do our best to come away with a win.”

Saints welcome back Steve Thompson (concussion) and Pat Barnard (back) from the injured list, but David Quinlan (neck), Rob Laird (hamstring) and Rhodri Davies (groin) are still unable to play just yet and lock Damien Browne turned his ankle in training on Tuesday and Luke Myring is out for the next eight weeks with a back injury. Vaughan Going is cup tied and Seamus Mallon is not registered for this stage of the competition.

Grayson added: “Seamus Mallon and Matthieu Bourret are unlucky not to get picked in the squad; we spent a good few hours on the decision. Matthieu has a slight hamstring problem so Seamus is the most unlucky as he is a genuine centre and is coming into form at the moment since recovering from his injury. But Stephen gives us the width and direction we had been struggling for.

“We need to play well in Italy. It will be difficult. We need to push for a win and to try to get a bonus point.”

At the time of release, Paul Diggin is a doubt for Saturday’s game with an ankle injury picked up in last weekend’s match. If he fails to come through, Ian Vass will move to full-back with Mark Robinson starting at scrum-half. A forward will come onto the bench leaving Johnny Howard to cover the backs. Diggin will be fitness-tested on game-day.

Northampton Saints

15 Paul Diggin
14 SEAN LAMONT
13 CARLOS SPENCER
12 Robbie Kydd
11 Chris Wyles
10 Stephen Myler
9 Ian Vass
1 TOM SMITH
2 STEVE THOMPSON
3 Pat Barnard
4 Matt Lord
5 DAVID GERARD
6 Mark Easter
7 Darren Fox (capt)
8 Daniel Browne

16 Dylan Hartley
17 SOANE TONGA’UIHA
18 Christian Short
19 PAUL TUPAI
20 SAM HARDING
21 MARK ROBINSON
22 Johnny Howard