Newport Gwent Dragons v Zebre

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http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/matchcentre/14451.php

Preview: Newport Gwent Dragons v Zebre

Newport Gwent Dragons have lost in round one in three of the past four seasons, and concluded last season's RaboDirect PRO12 campaign with four straight defeats.

Dragons have a won 11, lost 4 record against Italian opponents in all competitions.

Zebre become the 24th different side to have participated in the tournament, which began as the Celtic League in season 2001/02.

At Rodney Parade, 7pm.
Referee: George Clancy ( IRFU, 48th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Jason Langdon (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Ray Wilton (WRU)

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/14469.php

Dragons squad for Zebre

Dan Evans, Tom Prydie, Will Harries, Andy Tuilagi, Ashley Smith, Jack Dixon, Pat Leach, Lewis Robling, Steffan Jones, Wayne Evans, Jonathan Evans, Tom Brown, Toby Faletau, Hywel Stoddart, Dan Lydiate, Jevon Groves, Andrew Coombes, Adam Jones, Ian Nimmo, Dan Way, Nathan Buck, Nathan Williams, Phil Price, Hugh Gustafson, Sam Parry, Steve Jones.

Players not selected through injury;

Joe Bedford, Adam Hughes, Tonderai Chavhanga, Jamie Smith, Matthew Pewtner, Dan Watchurst, Darren Waters, Lewis Evans, Rob Sidoli




Here's the starting line-up of Zebre :

15 Sinoti SINOTI (FP)
14 Giovanbattista VENDITTI*
13 Roberto QUARTAROLI*
12 Gonzalo GARCIA (c)
11 Samuele PACE
10 Luciano ORQUERA
9 Tito TEBALDI

8 Filippo CRISTIANO
7 Andries VAN SCHALKWYK (FP)
6 Nicola CATTINA
5 Emiliano CAFFINI*
4 Quintin GELDENHUYS
3 David RYAN (FP)
2 Carlo FESTUCCIA
1 Salvatore PERUGINI

Replacements:

16 Davide GIAZZON
17 Andrea DE MARCHI
18 Luciano LEIBSON
19 Filippo CAZZOLA*
20 Filippo FERRARINI*
21 Alberto CHILLON*
22 Alberto CHIESA*
23 Ruggero TREVISAN*

Not considered due to injury : Mauro BERGAMASCO, Marco BORTOLAMI, Matteo PRATICHETTI, Josh SOLE, Michael VAN VUREN.

*Former member of the Italian Rugby Union (FIR) academy "Ivan Francescato" of Tirrenia

Well we'll get to see what Zebre are like.

bedfordwelsh wrote:

gowales wrote:

wrfc1980 wrote:Shows what a joke it is that Zebre walked straight into the Heinekan Cup without not having to qualify but not even having had to play a game! I'm pleased the English and French are looking to shake up the terrible (non) qualification rules in the Rabbo league.

I agree, but i doubt many other celtic supporters will...

I also agree and like Jiffy said on the Scrum V programme tonight until its just top 6 qualifiers then we will always get jibes against league. Unfortunately the Unions wont go for it.

I have said for sometime that the Amlin is our correct level but the profile and prestige is in the HC

Top 8, otherwise you will end up excluding some teams who are stronger than those who finish 6th in the English or French league - especially with the rise of Ulster, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Scarlets over the last few years.

Couldn't of ask for more, a BP win is what we wanted and that's what we got. JG was quality at 7 to ifht, not his position but he was dominating the contact area. All the bots played well and I can't really argue with Leach getting MOTM but for me J Evans was outstanding. Sniping runs and good service all game but what really stood out for me was his cover defence, absolute quality.

I do t want to keep picking out players as they all played well but I love D Evans's boot, relived pressure and turned defence into attack. Prydie and Ian also looked at ease in there first starts (Prydie looks classy).

MEN OF GWENT CAN YOU HEAR US

wales606 wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

gowales wrote:

wrfc1980 wrote:Shows what a joke it is that Zebre walked straight into the Heinekan Cup without not having to qualify but not even having had to play a game! I'm pleased the English and French are looking to shake up the terrible (non) qualification rules in the Rabbo league.

I agree, but i doubt many other celtic supporters will...

I also agree and like Jiffy said on the Scrum V programme tonight until its just top 6 qualifiers then we will always get jibes against league. Unfortunately the Unions wont go for it.

I have said for sometime that the Amlin is our correct level but the profile and prestige is in the HC

Top 8, otherwise you will end up excluding some teams who are stronger than those who finish 6th in the English or French league - especially with the rise of Ulster, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Scarlets over the last few years.

I agree top eight minimum. Remember that teams like Connacht who languish around the bottom three or four of the Rabbo can beat AP teams at home where as teams who made the play offs in the AP and T14 were losing at home to mid table Rabbo sides like Scarlets, Edinburgh and Blues.

The competition has to be European and the teams qualified must reflect that. The competition should be based on rugby not the greed of boards of directors.

What a game!

Lets not be too quick to judge yet. It was Zebres first game and they might need time to get up to speed. Maybe they took Dragons too lightly? Any team who takes Dragons lightly at Rodney parade usually loses.

profitius wrote:Lets not be too quick to judge yet. It was Zebres first game and they might need time to get up to speed. Maybe they took Dragons too lightly? Any team who takes Dragons lightly at Rodney parade usually loses.

Well it's basically Aironi without all their foreign stars
You can't really expect much better from them than this.

So does that prove Wales should have 4 teams in the HC and Italy just one?

Or does the ospreys result show it should be 3 and 1

Joking aside Zebre have recruited heavily in the off season and could improve from where they are now. Hardly surprising what amounts to a scratch team isnt up to much in its first game away from home.
I honestly think they will toughen up and improve as the season goes on, the return leg wont be so easy.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:So does that prove Wales should have 4 teams in the HC and Italy just one?

Or does the ospreys result show it should be 3 and 1

Joking aside Zebre have recruited heavily in the off season and could improve from where they are now. Hardly surprising what amounts to a scratch team isnt up to much in its first game away from home.
I honestly think they will toughen up and improve as the season goes on, the return leg wont be so easy.

True, but don't forget the Dragons were predicted by most non-dragons fans on here to finish 1 from bottom this season, just above Zebre, so we're not exactly seen as decent opposition ourselves. If Zebre play like that against a top side then they will be in trouble. Or maybe they're saving themselves for the HC!

Griff wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:So does that prove Wales should have 4 teams in the HC and Italy just one?

Or does the ospreys result show it should be 3 and 1

Joking aside Zebre have recruited heavily in the off season and could improve from where they are now. Hardly surprising what amounts to a scratch team isnt up to much in its first game away from home.
I honestly think they will toughen up and improve as the season goes on, the return leg wont be so easy.

True, but don't forget the Dragons were predicted by most non-dragons fans on here to finish 1 from bottom this season, just above Zebre, so we're not exactly seen as decent opposition ourselves. If Zebre play like that against a top side then they will be in trouble. Or maybe they're saving themselves for the HC!

That is true Griff. How many people wanted to jump on our back after the Gwent Select loss though? Funny how the terms change. Zebre were ok, we were great first 40 and solid for the second. While we may be a weak side still, the first half we did our job. I'm a realist, we aren't great, but we have played worse teams at home recently and not put them away!!

Im not saying Zebre arent favourites for bottom but they wont always be quite such easy turnovers.
The Rabo should be mostly competitive games this year, which is good for it as a league. Its a real shame to see half a*sed Irish sides out though. I understand that they are limiting games for the big players, and gain in the HEC and Internationals through that, but it does damage the competitions validity.

My only concern is that Zebre made quite a few half-breaks, especially in the second half. Better sides will make half-breaks pay.

But we looked like we wanted it yesterday.

Their 9 is clearly a good player for one (hence his caps).

I am torn between Zebre played ok generally and we should've won by sixty really.

One thing about Zebre is they will play how the national coach tells them, they will pick who the national coach tells them. The Irish provinces have to deal with a lot of interference from our international set-up but it's nothing compared to Zebre.

Zebre is a development team for Italy. The FIR are pulling the strings. They'll play the rugby the national coach thinks will prepare their players best for test matches and pick the players he wants to see regardless of results.

In the first half they ran most of the penalties they were given. That could be a reflection of how erratic the national side's goal kickers have been.

I'll be honest that I wasn't at the game but with the Dragons if they win a game by half time at home they have a tendancy to switch off in the second half and tend to just try and get through the last 40 without turning the screw.

That's not always a bad thing there is no point risking injuries etc with a bonus point already secured but if they were more ruthless they could really of made a statement.

That's what I wanted us to do, Alun. I don't know why we didn't turn the screw on them. The first ten minutes of the second half, we kept kicking the ball away, that must have been an instruction - and not necessarily a foolish instruction, considering we did so well off turnovers in the first half. But I'd have preferred us to keep ball in hand.

The Dragons biggest problem is depth. Totally agree with Darren rotating the team for the second half. We've a smaller squad than last year and a long way to go yet. Would rather let the stripey horses off the hook with five points in the bag than put out some of the dirt trackers v the Blues in two weeks. Can imagine us sending a scratch team to Leinster and targeting a third successive result against Cardiff and rightly so imo.

According to the Argus, that's very much the case for the Leinster and Munster games. Makes sense too, as the Blues game is massive obviously.

Any bonus point win is a good win, we will find out where the regions stand next week after playing home and away. Any news on the crowds for the home games?

Luckless: Shifty is Alyn Davies, don't want you getting us mixed up. Hope you enjoyed the game, the result suggests an entertaining game, I was away this weekend so not seen any rugby.