Therefore important points are up for grabs in tomorrow fixture: for Leinster the playoffs ambitions as well for Bortolami and his team mates aiming to finish the season in the best way, taking off other satisfactions and collecting important points that could allow the franchise based in Parma to take part in the main European Cup -on future renewal in its formula- also for next season.
Between the 11 Azzurri capped by Italy during last Six Nations tournament -which saw Italy play in Dublin just two weeks ago- only 5 of them are part of today's trip: Iannone, skipper Bortolami, Biagi - who gained his official international debut in Rome on Saturday against England - Giazzon and Palazzani. At rest are other internationals, the Irish side are likely to do similar as they travel in two weeks to the south of France for the important Heineken Cup quarter-final against the reigning champions Toulon.
Marco Bortolami, who gained his 100th cap with Italy during last Six Nations, is certain that it will be a tough game in which Zebre can be competitive :"There will be two groups of players who are determinated to show that they're as much competitive as the starters by the papers. Everybody is focused to gain minutes on the field until the end of the season to support both sides ambitions. In the first leg in Parma our boys were competitive at least for the first hour: this gives us the awareness that this could happens tomorrow night too, also if on aways and in Dublin in particular it's another story. We must take the RDS field with confidence in our potential".
Here's Zebre line-up for Friday 21 March 2014 at RDS Arena in Dublin (Ireland) for the 17th round of the RaboDirect PRO12 against Leinster. Kick off at 7.15 pm local time :
15 David ODIETE*
14 Giulio TONIOLATTI
13 Giovanbattista VENDITTI*
12 Kameli RATUVOU
11 Dion BERRYMAN
10 Tommaso IANNONE*
9 Brendon LEONARD
8 Samuela VUNISA
7 Andries VAN SCHALKWYK
6 Filippo FERRARINI*
5 Marco BORTOLAMI (cap)
4 George BIAGI
3 David RYAN
2 Tommaso D'APICE*
1 Salvatore PERUGINI
Replacements :
16 Davide GIAZZON
17 Andrea DE MARCHI
18 Dario CHISTOLINI
19 Michael VAN VUREN
20 Guglielmo PALAZZANI
21 Alberto CHILLON*
22 Emiliano CAFFINI*
23 Filippo CRISTIANO
Coach. Andrea CAVINATO
Not available for selection due to injury: Mauro BERGAMASCO, Paolo BUSO, Nicola CATTINA, Andrea MANICI*, Matteo PRATICHETTI, Roberto QUARTAROLI*, Luca REDOLFINI, Ruggero TREVISAN*
Referee: Marius Mitrea (Federazione Italiana Rugby) at his 24th competition game, the first ever with Zebre
Assistant Referees: Kieran Barry and Andy Brace (Both Irish Rugby football Union)
TMO: Kevin Beggs (Irish Rugby football Union)
Live score text coverage on www.rabodirectpro12.com/live . Delayed tv coverage in Italy on Mediaset Italia 2 Saturday 22 March at 5 pm.
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