Zebre Team Announcement

After the victory against Cardiff Blues on March the 1st and the late draw on March the 19th against the Dragons, the white & black boys will attempt to keep the fortress momentum of the home ground of Stadio XXV Aprile, in a clash which will feature many Italy and Scotland internationals involved in last Six Nations.

After the good performance in Llanelli which yielded a point for the Italian side, the XV of the team from the North-West of Italy returns in front of the home crowd on Easter Saturday, a truly special day to make this sport day unforgettable for all the fans attending the game.

At the end of captain's run of this morning at the Rugby Citadel of Parma, the Zebre coaching staff dismissed the doubts and announced the starting line-up that will attempt -for the first time in franchise history- to beat a Scottish opponent, a result nearly obtained during the first leg at Murrayfield Stadium, when Bortolami and his team mates were defeated 25-23, despite closing the first half ahead 17-12 thanks to the tries of the two young Azzurri internationals Iannone and Sarto.

Solomons vistors return to Italy three weeks after the defeat of Treviso and are currently seventh in the PRO12 table at 35 points. Seven wins for the Scots which are fighting for a place in next European Champions Cup hunting the Scarlets ahead by 10 points but with one game less: the Glasgow derby to play as a postponed fixture next weekend.

It will be a really special afternoon tomorrow at the Stadio XXV Aprile in Parma, which will also host the finals of the fourth COLORNO TOURNAMENT UNDER 16 dedicated to the memory of FILIPPO CANTONI, the 18 years old rugby player of the local club Rugby Colorno and of main National Academy Ivan Francescato died in January during a tragic car accident .

At the final whistle of Zebre Vs Edinburgh, the best two sides will face each other in the final of the international tournament that will see 14 teams battling each other on Friday and Saturday on two fields of Colorno, 10 km from Parma.

Another notable event will take place at halftime when the directors of Zebre will deliver to Dr.Izzi, chief of Children's Hospital of Parma the funs raised through the auction of the jerseys dressed by the Italian side on January the 4th during the last victorious italian derby against Benetton Treviso.

On that special occasion on the chest of the team directed by coach Andrea Cavinato there was the logo of the Children's Hospital named to a parmesan pioneer like Pietro Barilla. Many individuals and companies have supported this fundraising charity dedicated to the medical structure visited by Zebre players during the past holiday season.

Here's Zebre line-up for Saturday 19 April 2014 at Stadio XXV Aprile in Parma for the 20th round of the RaboDirect PRO12 against Edinburgh. Kick off at 3.30 pm local time :

15 David ODIETE*
14 Leonardo SARTO*
13 Tommaso IANNONE*
12 Gonzalo GARCIA
11 Giovanbattista VENDITTI*
10 Luciano ORQUERA
9 Brendon LEONARD

8 Samuela VUNISA
7 Andries VAN SCHALKWYK
6 Filippo CRISTIANO
5 George BIAGI
4 Quintin GELDENHUYS (cap)
3 Dario CHISTOLINI
2 Davide GIAZZON
1 Matias AGUERO

Replacements :

16 Tommaso D'APICE*
17 Andrea DE MARCHI
18 Dave RYAN
19 Michael VAN VUREN
20 Filippo FERRARINI*
21 Guglielmo PALAZZANI
22 Kameli RATUVOU
23 Dion BERRYMAN

Coach. Andrea CAVINATO

Not available for selection due to injury: Mauro BERGAMASCO, Marco BORTOLAMI, Paolo BUSO, Nicola CATTINA, Andrea MANICI*, Salvatore
PERUGINI, Matteo PRATICHETTI, Roberto QUARTAROLI*, Giulio TONIOLATTI

Edinburgh: Cuthbert, Brown, Scott, Strauss, Visser, Bezuidenhout, Kennedy; Denton, Grant, Coman (cap), Atkins, Toolis, Nel, Ford, Blaauw (A disposizione: Hilterbrand, Dickinson, Berghan, Toolis, Du Preez, Hart, Leonard, Beard)

Coach.Solomons

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Irish Rugby Football Union) at his 55th competition game, 2nd with Zebre in the Rabodirect PRO12 this season after last home game against the Dragons
Assistant Referees: Filippo Bertelli e Matteo Liperini (Both Federazione Italiana Rugby)
TMO: Carlo Damasco (Federazione Italiana Rugby)

Live tv coverage in Italy on Mediaset Italia 2. Live score text coverage on www.rabodirectpro12.com/live.