David Sisi to captain Zebre Rugby club for the first time
Zebre concluded their week of training this morning at Rugby Citadel of Parma ahead of the next weekend challenge in the eighth round of the Guinness PRO14.
Zebre will be in Wales to face the Cardiff Blues in the return match between the two sides included in Conference A.
The encounter will be played on the synthetic pitch of the Arms Park, where Zebre grabbed their historic first win in the competition back in 2013.
The Zebre technical staff have reshuffled the pack, setting up a starting line-up with 11 changes compared to the XV selected in Parma last Saturday in the victory against Edinburgh.
There will be several athletes missing through injury and call ups by Italian national team: there will be ten players from the Zebre squad who will defend Italian colours in the first of the 4 November test matches tomorrow night at 8 pm.
The Azzurri will be on the field at Chicago’s Soldier Filed to challenge Ireland, the Six Nations champion.
The Parma-based franchise will face the Cardiff Blues, defeated in mid-September at the Lanfranchi Stadium with a maul try from Fabiani.
Head coach Bradley was forced to summon five permit players registered with other Italian clubs: two Fiamme Oro Rugby players Bianchi and D’Onofrio, two players from Rugby Calvisano Manfredi and Koffi and the young athlete of the National Academy “Ivan Francescato” Ruggeri.
For flanker Bianchi, this is a commendation after his excellent overall debut last weekend; while for the other four this is their first seasonal call with Zebre.
D’Onofrio has already appeared three times as a permit player in the last two seasons; but it is first call for the other three players with number 8 Koffi – a local player grown up at Amatori Parma Rugby – who will start at the Arms Park.
On the bench will sit the Italian-German hooker Manfredi who grew up in Rugby San Donà and Ruggeri, the 19 year old flanker attending his second year with the Italian Rugby Union National Academy. The latest arrival in the Zebre squad, English centre Elliott, will start on the bench
In the backs line the only two changes concern Di Giulio and Brummer, with the South African switching from fullback to fly-half. In the forward pack, in addition to Bianchi – who made 23 tackles in his first 80 minutes, the only confirmation concerns lock Sisi. Sisi will captain Zebre Rugby Club for the first time in his 32nd official cap with the Italian franchise.
Here’s Zebre Rugby Club line-up for Sunday, November 2 match at the Cardiff Arms Park in Cardiff (Wales) for the 8th round of the Guinness PRO14 against the Welsh side of the Cardiff Blues. Kick-off at 2.45 pm local time:
15 Giovanni D’Onofrio (permit player from Fiamme Oro Rugby)
14 Gabriele Di Giulio*
13 Tommaso Boni*
12 Nicolas De Battista
11 Paula Balekana
10 Francois Brummer
9 Riccardo Raffaele*
8 Antoine Koffi* (permit player from Rugby Calvisano)
7 Apisai Tauyavuca
6 Jacopo Bianchi* (permit player from Fiamme Oro Rugby)
5 Leonard Krumov*
4 David Sisi (cap)
3 Eduardo Bello
2 Luhandre Luus*
1 Cruze Ah-Nau
Replacements:
16 Marco Manfredi (permit player from Rugby Calvisano)
17 Daniele Rimpelli*
18 Roberto Tenga
19 Samuele Ortis*
20 Davide Ruggeri* (permit player from Italian Rugby Union National Academy “Ivan Francescato”)
21 Maicol Azzolini*
22 Jamie Elliott
23 Giovanbattista Venditti*
Head Coach: Michael Bradley
Not available for selection due to injury: Massimo Ceciliani*, Giovanni Licata*, Maxime Mbandà*, Matteo Minozzi*, Edoardo Padovani*, Marcello Violi*
Capped by Italian national team: Mattia Bellini, George Biagi, Giulio Bisegni, Carlo Canna, Tommaso Castello, Oliviero Fabiani, Andrea Lovotti*, Renato Giammarioli*, Johan Meyer, Guglielmo Palazzani, Jimmy Tuivaiti, Giosué Zilocchi*
*Former member of the Italian Rugby Union National Academy “Ivan Francescato”
Referee: George Clancy (Irish Rugby Football Union)
Assistant Referees: Stuart Gaffikin (Irish Rugby Football Union) e Mike English (Wales Rugby Union)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Irish Rugby Football Union)
Live coverage of the game in Italy on live streaming on DAZN on www.dazn.com. Live text coverage of the game on www.pro14rugby.organd on Zebre Rugby twitter account with the official game hashtag #CBLvZEB.fficial game hashtag #BENvULS
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