Brendan Venter will hand a debut to teenage fly half Jake Sharp on Sunday when Saracens get their Amlin Challenge Cup campaign underway at home to Rugby Rovigo.

Sarries' director of rugby has handed the 18-year-old talent his bow at Vicarage Road in a much-changed line-up against the Italian side. Sharp, who has been with the academy since the age of six, has scored four tries in three matches for Saracens Storm, the newly named A team, this season.

Venter, who claims the prodigy is one of the brightest prospects he has worked with, said: "I've got a fantastic young fly half, who is 18, and I'd love to play him against Rovigo and just give him an opportunity playing a proper game at Vicarage Road.

"Jake has been in the academy since the age of six and he is just a wonderful natural talent. He is one of the five most talented youngsters I have worked with. He kicks beautifully, passes beautifully and has a sharp turn of pace."

Sharp, whose father coaches the Under-13 team, said: "I'm already looking forward to it but a strength of Saracens this season is teamwork and Sunday isn't about me making my debut, it's about performing well as a team and getting the result we want. I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully as many of my friends and family as possible will be able to come along.

"He's [Venter] been fantastic to me and told me just to enjoy myself on Sunday. He's right when he says that I'm playing with the same size ball and that the posts are still the same size, so there's no reason for me to do anything differently on Sunday than I have been doing all season."

The England Under-20 star will be supported by Kevin Barrett at scrum half, another debutant, while exciting wing Michael Tagicakibau also starts his first match. Michael Horak, the former England full-back, is another to be handed a first outing and club stalwart Kevin Sorrell makes a welcome return after a long-term knee injury.

The revamped European competition is a much sterner test this season, with only one side from each pool qualifying for the quarter-finals, which will feature runner-ups from the Heineken Cup, and Saracens are in a difficult group including Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon and Castres.

Following their Italian job this weekend, Sarries face a trip to big-spending Toulon on Thursday night and a potential encounter with record appearance-maker Kris Chesney.

Venter said: "We will have a nice blend of youth and experience for the Rovigo game. It is great that we can use players who have done so well for the Storm.

"It's a tough group and it's an important competition for us but our philosophy is very simple. We will try to win each game. We don't know anything about the opposition but I'm not too worried about it because we need to concentrate on what we do.

"It's such a pleasure watching these kids. They are like mad things let out of a cage. That's why I know whoever plays there are 35 Saracens able to play every week which is great. It doesn't matter who we play against, it's going to be a massive game for those people.

"It doesn't matter what team we put out. Someone like Kevin Barrett, our scrum-half, you haven't seen him yet, but he's been fantastic for us and I want to give him an opportunity to play at that level.

"It is an opportunity but it's not like I'm resting people. I'm expecting them to do a fantastic job not even an average performance."