Squad for the AIs, Ian McKinley is in

Piloni
Dario CHISTOLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps)
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)
Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)*
Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)
Federico ZANI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)

Tallonatori
Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Oliviero FABIANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 4 caps)
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousain, 86 caps)

Seconde linee
George Fabio BIAGI (Zebre Rugby Club, 19 caps)
Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
Marco FUSER (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)*
Marco LAZZARONI (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)*
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 2 caps)*

Flanker/n.8
Renato GIAMMARIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, esordiente)*
Giovanni LICATA (Fiamme Oro Rugby, esordiente)*
Maxime Mata MBANDA’ (Zebre Rugby Club, 11 caps)*
Francesco MINTO (Benetton Rugby, 36 caps)
Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 126 caps) – capitano
Abraham Jurgens STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)

Mediani di mischia
Edoardo GORI (Benetton Rugby, 63 caps)*
Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 22 caps)
Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)*

Mediani d’apertura
Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 22 caps)
Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, esordiente)

Centri
Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 45 caps)*
Tommaso BONI (Zebre Rugby, Club 5 caps)*
Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 2 caps)
Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, esordiente)

Ali
Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)*
Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)*
Leonardo SARTO (Glasgow Warriors, 32 caps)*
Giovambattista VENDITTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 43 caps)*

Estremi
Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, esordiente)*
Edoardo PADOVANI (RC Toulon, 14 caps)*

Yay! Top class!! Thank you

So what's the verdict on COS so far? I'd have thought a piece of pocket-fluff would be preferable to Brunel by the end of his tenure but a lot of people had high hopes for Conor beyond that, how's he doing?

There have been ups and downs, but I think he is on the right track, here's an interesting article from him on the Pro14 website where he discusses the early season success of Benetton and Zebre:

https://www.pro14rugby.org/2017/10/18/o ... ng-groove/

Team for the weekend:

15 Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, esordiente)
14 Leonardo SARTO (Glasgow Warriors, 32 caps)*
13 Tommaso BONI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)*
12 Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 2 caps)
11 Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)*
10 Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 22 caps)
9 Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 5 caps)*
8 Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 126 caps) – capitano
7 Abraham STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 14 caps)
6 Francesco MINTO (Benetton Rugby, 36 caps)
5 Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
4 Marco FUSER (Benetton Rugby, 24 caps)*
3 Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 5 caps)
2 Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
1 Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 17 caps)*
a disposizione
16 Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulosain, 86 caps)
17 Federico ZANI (Benetton Rugby, 3 caps)
18 Dario CHISTOLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 18 caps)
19 Marco LAZZARONI (Benetton Rugby, 1 cap)*
20 Giovanni LICATA (Fiamme Oro Rugby, esordiente)*
21 Edoardo GORI (Benetton Rugby, 63 caps)*
22 Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby, esordiente)
23 Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, esordiente)*

Treviso forwards + Zebre backs

Fiji:

15 Kini MURIMURIWALU (La Rochelle)
14 Josua TUISOVA (Toulon RC)
13 Asaeli TIKOIROTUMA (London Irish)
12 Jale VATUBUA (Pau)
11 Timoci NAGUSA (Montpellier)
10 Ben VOLAVOLA (North Harbour)
9 Frank LOMANI (Naitasiri)
8 Nemani NAGUSA (Aurillac)
7 Akapusi QERA (Agen) – capitano
6 Semi KUNATANI (Stade Toulousain)
5 Leone NAKARAWA (Racing ’92)
4 Apisalome RATUNIYARAWA (Northampton Saints)
3 Manasa SAULO (London Irish)
2 Tuapati TALEMAITOGA (Aix Marseille Provence Rugby)
1 Campese MA’AFU (Northampton Saints)
a disposizione
16 Sunia KOTO (Marcon)
17 Peni RAVAI (Bordeaux-Begles)
18 Ropate RINAKAMA (Northland)
19 Sikeli NABOU (Biarritz Olympique)
20 Mosese VOKA (Namosi)
21 Henry SENILOLI (Timisoara Saracens)
22 Levani BOTIA (La Rochelle)
23 Vereniki GONEVA (Newcastle Falcons)

Excited for you guys at the weekend.

Hoping the win comes your way and you can start to build a bit of a head of steam going into the 6 Nations.

All 3 AI games are winnable.

Italian clubs have been going pretty well, some impressive results given the available resources. There are some very good and very, very powerful players in the Fiji squad, I think it would be a good result to secure that win first of all. Argentina and South Africa may have too much talent though, but it all starts with that first game.

https://m.facebook.com/ianmckinleyrugby ... 0027258095

Pic 'stolen' from rugby.it - I think it is worth the crime!

Padovani officially gooooooooooone from Toulon

Benetton Rugby team for tomorrows Italian derby:

15 Jayden Hayward
14 Angelo Esposito
13 Ignacio Brex
12 Alberto Sgarbi
11 Monty Ioane
10 Marty Banks
9 Tito Tebaldi
8 Robert Barbieri
7 Abraham Steyn
6 Whetu Douglas
5 Dean Budd (C)
4 Alessandro Zanni
3 Tiziano Pasquali
2 Tomas Baravalle
1 Nicola Quaglio

A disposizione
16 Hame Faiva
17 Federico Zani
18 Cherif Traore
19 Federico Ruzza
20 Marco Barbini
21 Edoardo Gori
22 Ian McKinley
23 Tommaso Benvenuti

Indisponibili: Simone Ferrari, Ornel Gega, Engjel Makelara, Nasi Manu, Francesco Minto, Marco Riccioni, Michael Tagicakibau.

I feel like I'm talking to myself in here, but here are the Zebre to face Treviso:

15 Matteo Minozzi
14 Mattia Bellini
13 Tommaso Boni
12 Tommaso Castello (cap)
11 Giulio Bisegni
10 Carlo Canna,
9 Marcello Violi

8 Renato Giammarioli
7 Johan Meyer
6 Maxime Mbandà
5 George Biagi
4 David Sisi
3 Dario Chistolini
2 Oliviero Fabiani
1 Andrea Lovotti

A disposizione:

16 Tommaso D’Apice
17 Cruze Ah-Nau
18 Roberto Tenga
19 Jacopo Sarto
20 Derick Minnie
21 Guglielmo Palazzani
22 Serafin Bordoli
23 Ciaran Gaffney

14/15 Italians in the starting lineup and only one of those (as far as I know) is a poach

Sturg what's the situation in Italy at the moment with regards to rugby?

Did you see any uptick after the football debacle?

How did the general public feel after a good win against Fiji but a somewhat poor result against South Africa?

I would really like italy to improve, but the progress is so slow that it is hard for a foreigner to keep paying attention.

Not been able to follow the game live, why the sending off?

Marius Goosen has had his contract with Italy extended until 2020......

...because our defence agains England worked soooo well

Okay. Italy U20 in Round 1 managed a 15-27 result vs England, one of the best U20 sides in the world. And tonight, despite being down a redcarded player apparently the whole match, they actually managed a 38-34 result vs Ireland, IN Ireland.

What the hell is up with the Italian youngsters, how have they become this competitive so fast ?

Good result that.

great result for the kids

Italy looked pretty good. Yes indeed if they didn’t lose a man they might have won. I was impressed by their 13. Best back on the pitch.

This was the red card.

How do you conclude that England is one the best U20 sides in the world? They have only played two matches

It was a really good 2nd half.
They trapped the ball with the pack and tried at large wisely.

The backs know how to keep the ball alive.
I’m sure they would have won without that red card.

That try, that great spectacular try! Just wowieeeee

I think for the first time in a while, there's a genuine sense Italy rugby is making alot of improvements, what's going on at the lower levels Tafano and Sturg?

Alot of work with kids going on?

Yeah it was a beautiful try. Keep alive beautifully by the 13.

There’s an academy system that finally hatch its talents,
After decades of mediocrity.
Well that sistem has been recently chanced again, so I don’t
really know what is goin on at U18 U16 (etc...) level.

Here around Milan a lot of teams have born, full of age grade teams, maybe an old team with the parents or a senior touch team, but not all have a Senior team.

When I was a child I never even heard the word
rugby, now my 12 years old daughter have a lot of friends
playin.
It’s funny cause I’m the only guy they know outside their team that “once played rugby”
so they ask me tons of questions.
Italy needs to Tweak the academy system, improve the trainers’ skills,
cause the base is there and it’s growing.

Grande Treviso! Final result. Treviso 22 - Scarlets 12...The play-off dream goes on...No1 saying SCARLETS OUT?

So, another whitewash.

But it has a really different taste this time IMHO.
Last year Italy was abysmal, bar the first half against Wales, France and some moments here and there, maybe.
This time we were abysmal in the first half against Ireland and in the last 15 minutes against all the rest.

We had flashes of excellence, we showed we can really play a more open rugby and be dangerous, we scored a lot of tries,
11 with our backs + 1 penalty try.
Our defence paid almost the same heavy toll as last year but with only 2 matches at home but almost doubled the point made and doubled
the tries scored.

We found some very promising youngster in Negri, Minozzi, Polledri, some needs more time, Licata, Mbandà, Bisegni, Bellini and all the young front rowers
Some cemented their place, like Allan, Violi, Budd, Castello.
Some were not up to it like Boni and Giammarioli, but time is on their side.
Parisse has to be VERY SADLY overlooked if his form doesn't come back.
Maybe we should try Licata Polledri and Negri togheter.

There some talent coming from the U20.

I think this has been a different 6 nations for Italy.

Interestingly Irish TV seemed to be more critical of O'Shea and Italy this year and you wouldnt expect this given the coaches nationality. Hopefully Italy keep improving but we have heard this before

11 tries scored.
As another poster remarked on another site - numbers matter,
As we are basically at par with the tries scored by all other teams bar Ireland...
And the quality of those tries!

Edit of course the penalty try also

But our defence is atrocious 40 points per game average. Yet not only does Goosen keep his job, his contract has been extended!! Roba da matti!

Glasgow 68-7 Zebre

Probably just as well there was no TV coverage for this one

Days like this are to be remembered...Epic success for Treviso (11 wins so far in the season)!
Crazy Zebre managed to win against Dragons after a hard-fought game..good job guys!

Happy for Zebre and L’Aquila!
If Treviso had won that match against Connacht... better chances for the qualifier

Really encouraged by Italian rugby progress this year - some great prospects for the national team coming through, consistent club form and some very good age group results. Keep it going!*




*not too much though cos we don't want the wooden spoon back

Squad for the tour of Japan

Piloni
Simone FERRARI (Benetton Rugby, 13 caps)
Andrea LOVOTTI (Zebre Rugby Club, 25 caps)*
Tiziano PASQUALI (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Cherif TRAORE (Benetton Rugby, esordiente)*
Federico ZANI (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)

Tallonatori
Luca BIGI (Benetton Rugby, 9 caps)
Oliviero FABIANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 6 caps)
Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Stade Toulousain, 94 caps)

Seconde linee
George BIAGI (Zebre Rugby Club, 21 caps)
Dean BUDD (Benetton Rugby, 11 caps)
Marco FUSER (Benetton Rugby, 27 caps)*
Federico RUZZA (Benetton Rugby, 6 caps)*
Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Rugby, 104 caps)


Flanker/n.8
Giovanni LICATA (Fiamme Oro Rugby, 5 caps)*
Sebastiani NEGRI (Benetton Rugby, 7 caps)
Jake POLLEDRI (Gloucester Rugby, 1 cap)
Abraham Jurgens STEYN (Benetton Rugby, 19 caps)

Mediani di mischia
Guglielmo PALAZZANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 24 caps)
Tito TEBALDI (Benetton Rugby, 23 caps)
Marcello VIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club, 13 caps)*

Mediani d’apertura
Tommaso ALLAN (Benetton Rugby, 38 caps)
Carlo CANNA (Zebre Rugby Club, 29 caps)

Centri
Giulio BISEGNI (Zebre Rugby Club, 9 caps)
Michele CAMPAGNARO (Exeter Chiefs, 32 caps)*
Tommaso CASTELLO (Zebre Rugby Club, 10 caps)
Luca MORISI (Benetton Rugby, 16 caps)*

Ali/Estremi
Mattia BELLINI (Zebre Rugby Club, 13 caps)*
Tommaso BENVENUTI (Benetton Rugby, 50 caps)*
Jayden HAYWARD (Benetton Rugby, 8 caps)
Matteo MINOZZI (Zebre Rugby Club, 8 caps)*
Edoardo PADOVANI (Zebre Rugby Club, 14 caps)*

*è/è stato membro dell’Accademia Nazionale “Ivan Francescato”

non considerati per infortunio/tenuti a riposo: Robert Julian BARBIERI (Benetton Rugby), Tommaso BONI (Zebre Rugby Club), Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Rugby), Ornel GEGA (Benetton Rugby), Renato GIAMMARIOLI (Zebre Rugby Club), Edoardo GORI (Benetton Rugby), Ian MCKINLEY (Benetton Rugby), Maxime MBANDA’ (Zebre Rugby Club), Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais), Leonardo SARTO (Glasgow Warriors)

Potential backline of Violi, Allan, Bellini, Morisi, Campagnaro, Minozzi, Hayward could be really exciting

Other talking points, Leo Sarto and Samuela Vunisa both leaving Glasgow in the summer. I'm hoping Treviso make a move for Sarto

Great news: Licata signs for Zebre, should have happened this season tbh
https://www.onrugby.it/2018/05/16/zebre ... -stagioni/

Also, our Test against Ireland at Soldier Field in Chicago has been confirmed for the 3rd of November. Whilst I'm sure that this is a boost to the FIR's finances, I am not convinced that a transatlantic flight and a tough match against Ireland is such a good idea a week before a must win match against Georgia?

Francesco Minto and Matteo Zanusso both leaving Treviso, no indication where they might end up although both would make good targets for Zebre IMO

I'd just like to point out that Wayne Smith is wearing an Azzurri shirt.....

great catch!!!

Made the mistake of watching the emergenti play Uruguay, that's 80 minutes of my life that I'll never get back