Bortolami to lead Zebre in final game of career

The opponents of the last round of the Guinness PRO12 2015/16 will be the Welsh side Newport Gwent Dragons. The last 80 minutes will be crucial for many reasons: both as a team and for some players who will leave the club at the end of the season. Up for grabs at the Stadio Lanfranchi are fundamental points for qualifying for the next EPCR Champions Cup with both Italian teams still in the hunt for the only Italian place in the main European cup of next season.

Before the last round of tomorrow, Benetton Treviso precede Zebre by one point in the standings. If the two sides finish at the same tally of points, Zebre will get the Champions Cup spot due to the most number of victories and are also in front also on the head to head having beaten Benetton Treviso twice over Christmas.

The Rugby's Citadel of Parma will also be the stage of the end the career of lock Marco Bortolami, the first captain of the new Guinness PRO12 era of Zebre Rugby. Bortolami has 66 appearances for Zebre Rugby including 49 as captain and has also captained the Azzurri 40 times and amassed 112 caps, the third of all time.

In this Guinness PRO12 season Dragons have collected four wins, the same number as Zebre. Last year in Parma, the victory went to the Zebre, the only one in the 7 previous encounters.

In comparison of the last game of last weekend in Glasgow coach Guidi side could count on three returnees in the starting line-up: centre Pratichetti, Leonardo Sarto and Meyer who have recovered from their injuries. There's also the return into the 23 list of former AllBlacks centurion Muliaina who will start from the bench in his last appearance in a Zebre Rugby jersey before his transfer into the US ProRugby with San Francisco.

Here's Zebre line-up for Saturday, May 6 match at Stadio Lanfranchi in Parma for the 22nd and final round of the Guinness PRO12 against the Dragons. Kick off at 4 pm local time:

15 Ulrich Beyers
14 Kayle Van Zyl
13 Tommaso Boni*
12 Matteo Pratichetti
11 Leonardo Sarto*
10 Carlo Canna
9 Guglielmo Palazzani
8 Andries Van Schalkwyk
7 Filippo Cristiano
6 Johan Meyer
5 Marco Bortolami
4 Quintin Geldenhuys (cap)
3 Guillermo Roan
2 Oliviero Fabiani
1 Andrea Lovotti*

Replacements :

16 Bruno Postiglioni
17 Andrea De Marchi
18 Dario Chistolini
19 Gideon Koegelenberg
20 Federico Ruzza*
21 Luke Burgess
22 Kelly Haimona
23 Mils Muliaina

Coach. Gianluca Guidi

*Former member of the Italian Rugby Union academy "Ivan Francescato" of Tirrenia.

Not available for selection due to injury: Valerio Bernabò, Dion Berryman, George Biagi, Giulio Bisegni, Emiliano Caffini*, Tommaso D'Apice*, Paul Derbyshire, Gonzalo Garcia, Andrea Manici*, Edoardo Padovani*, Jacopo Sarto, Giulio Toniolatti, Marcello Violi*

Referee: David Wilkinson (Irish Rugby Football Union)
Assistant Referees: Elia Rizzo and Simone Boaretto (both Federazione Italiana Rugby)
TMO: Stefano Marrama (Federazione Italiana Rugby)

Delayed tv coverage in Italy on Rai Sport 2 at 10.30 pm and on live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it . Live text coverage of the game on www.pro12rugby.com