Some of them will join the Irish away trip with hooker Manici and lock Bernabò as starters. Biagi and his team mates flew to Dublin this morning for the first challenge of the season against an Irish opponent scheduled for tomorrow evening at the Sportsground where Zebre has never won in the previous five meetings. Zebre could count on the return of fullback Beyers and former Wallabies scrum-half Burgess who recovered well from their light injures while Argentinian prop Postiglioni is forced to withdraw due to last minute injury.
Three other young Azzurri internationals were selected on the bench: backs Palazzani, Visentin and Canna. The Benevento born fly-half Canna, a new arrival, earned four caps with Italy at the 2015 World Cup and is ready to gain his first cap with the Italian North-West team.
Zebre Rugby team manager Andrea de Rossi presents the dangers of the game against Connacht: "We approach one of the hardest games of the tournament against an opponent which is always difficult to face: especially in their home stadium. Connacht is a very physical team that display a solid gameplan. It will be an additional opportunity to growth for our team after a very good week of preparation held in Parma".
Here's the Zebre line-up for Friday's October 15th match at the Sportsground in Galway (Ireland) for the 4th round of the Guinness PRO12 against Connacht. Kick off at 7.30 pm local time :
15 Ulrich Beyers
14 Dion Berryman
13 Tommaso Boni*
12 Matteo Pratichetti
11 Kayle Van Zyl
10 Edoardo Padovani*
9 Luke Burgess
8 Andries Van Schalkwyk
7 Jacopo Sarto
6 Johan Meyer
5 George Biagi (cap)
4 Valerio Bernabò
3 Pietro Ceccarelli
2 Andrea Manici*
1 Andrea Lovotti*
Replacements :
16 Tommaso D'Apice*
17 Andrea De Marchi
18 Emiliano Coria
19 Marco Bortolami
20 Emiliano Caffini*
21 Guglielmo Palazzani
22 Michele Visentin*
23 Carlo Canna
Coach. Gianluca Guidi
*Former member of the Italian Rugby Union national academy "Ivan Francescato"
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Welsh Rugby Union)
Assistant Referees: Stuart Gaffikin e Stuart Douglas (both Irish Rugby Football Union)
No live tv coverage. Live text coverage of the game on www.pro12rugby.com
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