Zebre are still searching their first ever competitive win in this season being at the bottom of the table with 5 points earned by one bonus tries and 4 defensive bonus.
The two sides met in round six of the RaboDirect PRO12 in Parma when the welsh side past the "white & black" boys by 34-16 despite not earning the bonus point due to a good second half comeback by the Italians.
A completely new backs line has been selected with Buso and Chillon pairing in the halves while Venditti and Pace will act on the wings. Full-back will be Benettin starting earning his third competitive start in this season of RaboDirect PRO12 after home debut vs Connacht and the away in Llanelli when Zebre risked to achieve their first ever win leading the score for 70 minutes. At centre captain Garcia will pair with Quartaroli, the L'Aquila born young Italian international is back after recovering from his knee injury occurred in Newport in August.
In the backs the coaching staff decided to confirm the second row with the Italian-south African duo Geldenhuys and Van Vuren who performed very well in the line-outs during last game in Treviso with 12 throws completed, one achieved and only one stolen.
On the first row forwards hooker Giazzon is also confirmed while at props will start De Marchi and the Irish Ryan, really effective on the good play of the second try of last Saturday in Treviso. A brand new back row is formed by Van Shalkwyk at number 8, and by flankers Ferrarini and Belardo : first competitive start of the RaboDirect PRO12 season for the Naples born flanker at his 7th overall cap.
On the bench: Important returns for the Australian utility back Halangahu; for centre Chiesa who recovered from his knee injury occurred in early November and the the argentinian born prop Leibson at his 4th selection in the 23 squad.
Zebre head coach Christian Gajan :"Ospreys won't underestimate this game although they've got a crucial Heineken Cup clash against Leicester Tigers next weekend. They will search to continue their good momentum helped by the usual big crowd of the Liberty Stadium. For us it's always great to play in front of a big amount of supporters, thought we always have big reasons and expectations. We want to show everybody that we can do well at this level and achieve our goal of the first win soon. Discipline and a correct approach of the game will be the keys of our good performance. Ospreys grew very much since our first meet in Parma in October: we'll travel to Swansea presenting several players who played less into our roster to take advantage of their good will. This is a normal development in the way of our focus to bring all the players to an higher level of experience".
Here's Zebre line-up for Friday's game in Swansea for the 13rd round of RaboDirect PRO12. Kick off at the Liberty Stadium at 7 pm local time:
15 Alberto BENETTIN*
14 Giovanbattista VENDITTI*
13 Roberto QUARTAROLI*
12 Gonzalo GARCIA (cap)
11 Samuele PACE
10 Paolo BUSO
9 Alberto CHILLON*
8 Andries VAN SCHALKWYK
7 Nicola BELARDO*
6 Filippo FERRARINI*
5 Michael VAN VUREN
4 Quintin GELDENHUYS
3 David RYAN
2 Davide GIAZZON
1 Andrea DE MARCHI
Replacements :
16 Carlo FESTUCCIA
17 Carlo FAZZARI*
18 Luciano LEIBSON
19 Emiliano CAFFINI*
20 Daniel HALANGAHU
21 Tito TEBALDI
22 Alberto CHIESA*
23 Ruggero TREVISAN*
Coach: Christian GAJAN
* Former member of the Italian Rugby Union academy "Ivan Francescato" of Tirrenia.
Not available for selection through injury : Mauro BERGAMASCO, Marco BORTOLAMI, Nicola CATTINA, Filippo CAZZOLA*, Filippo CRISTIANO, Luca MARTINELLI, David ODIETE*, Matteo PRATICHETTI, Leonardo SARTO*, Sinoti SINOTI, Josh SOLE, Flavio TRIPODI.
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU, 46th competition game) at his 5th direction this season with Zebre. The Belfast born referee also directed the game between the two sides played in Parma.
Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Neil Perkins (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Russell Howard (WRU)
63x46.png){kind=logo}