Planet Rugby Forum

Zebre victorious against Bristol 20-17!!

Andrea Masi: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Zebre keeps on rolling! Won with 18 pts of margin against Edinburgh! Great news..also the new young lads from U20 are getting in! Good job

Great scalp for Treviso today that wins at home against the Harlequins!!!

7th win in a row for Treviso in Grenoble (Pro14 and Challenge cup)

Grenoble 7 - Treviso 39..What a team!

Everything is crossed for favourable results this weekend!

Thank god this thread is still here!

What are we going to do about the scrum half position? Huge weakness for us, brutally exposed against Scotland

sturginho wrote:What are we going to do about the scrum half position? Huge weakness for us, brutally exposed against Scotland

Gori? I would test an U20 as an alternative

Trussardi? I do not know how he is playing in Bezirs

14 matches played, 7 starts, 1 try

http://www.itsrugby.fr/joueur_37671.html

I think that Gori will be playing against Wales with Palazzani utility back on the bench..I would then call Zanon in place of Castello and Barbini instead of Tuvaiti

0ber0n wrote:I think that Gori will be playing against Wales with Palazzani utility back on the bench..I would then call Zanon in place of Castello and Barbini instead of Tuvaiti

Is Gori even fit enough to play? He seems to have been out for a long time?

sturginho wrote:

0ber0n wrote:I think that Gori will be playing against Wales with Palazzani utility back on the bench..I would then call Zanon in place of Castello and Barbini instead of Tuvaiti

Is Gori even fit enough to play? He seems to have been out for a long time?

Don't have idea..but it is back among the callable for Treviso (and played some mins).

I hope Conor will consider to bring a young U20 or ex U20 for the next game..we have to start thinking to someone after Gori-Palazzani and Tebaldi too. Gianmarco Piva? Panunzi? Trussardi??

Trussardi would be the obvious one as he's getting regular game time at his club (albeit in ProD2) Panunzi has played a couple for Zebre but he'd be jumping straight from the top12 to the 6 nations which is a big ask. The thing is they really need to start taking the best u20s straight to Zebre instead of making them play for calvisano first

Great result for Treviso, beating Scarlets 25-19

Very important win. All on the Edinburgh game now.

A key success for Benetton Treviso which is proving once again the commitment of the northeastern franchise and also the professionalism of all the team. It is not only a matter of players. 8th positive result in a row for them (7 wins and a draw). If Italian rugby is not at the level of a Tier 1, Treviso is showing that Italy have all the means to build up a competitive team (and it is frankly not the first season that they are doing good). As for the Georgia or Romania in the 6N cliché, this is something that no1 has mentioned before..

magnificent win for Benetton against Dragons. No more words for them

Yup, most of the team missing for the 6 nations and they still put on a great performance. They must have a great chance of making the playoffs now

sturginho wrote:Yup, most of the team missing for the 6 nations and they still put on a great performance. They must have a great chance of making the playoffs now

57-7 is, I assume, the best result ever in Pro14 for an Italian team

0ber0n wrote:

sturginho wrote:Yup, most of the team missing for the 6 nations and they still put on a great performance. They must have a great chance of making the playoffs now

57-7 is, I assume, the best result ever in Pro14 for an Italian team

It must be, 50-24 against the dragons in 2011 is the next best I can think of

Another win for TV, 18-10 against Edinburgh, a place in the playoffs is in reach!

plus with tries by Rizzi and Cannone...don't wake me up! YEEEEEEAAAAA

In other news, Leo Sarto is finally baaaaaaaack...
Making his first senior appearance in almost a year in Tigers' game against Wasps

Benetton's run in is tough? Connacht, Munster, Leinster? Then Zebre. Gonna be close for top 3!

Conf B table:

Pos Team Points
1 Leinster 72
2 Treviso 50
3 Ulster 49
4 Scarlets 45
5 Edinburgh 42
6 Kings 20
7 Dragons 19

Treviso Fixtures:
Connacht (A)
Leinster (A)
Munster (H)
Zebre (A)

Ulster Fixtures:
Kings (H)
Glasgow (A)
Edinburgh (A)
Leinster (H)

Scarlets Fixtures:
Blues (A)
Edinburgh (H)
Zebre (H)
Dragons (A)

Edinburgh Fixtures:
Leinster (H)
Scarlets (A)
Ulster (H)
Glasgow (A)


Ouch! That's a tough run of games for Benetton! You'd say they need to take maximum points against Zebre then get at least 3 losing bps to take them to 58 points, and that still might not be enough when you consider that Scarlets have Zebre and Dragons as their last two games

Going back to our conversation about scrum halves, Trussardi could be on his way to Treviso:

https://www.onrugby.it/2019/03/05/benet ... -del-club/

I want to try and talk about the positives from this 6N (should be a short post eh?)

Jayden Hayward
Ok, I thought I'd give him a special mention on his own because in terms of stats, he was very impressive: 54 carries, 373 metres, 16 defenders beaten, 4 breaks, 6 offloads. Also having him at fullback with Padovani on the wing worked well I thought. I know the obvious weak link in the back 3 is Esposito, I dont want to dwell on his performance too much as I'm supposed to be focusing on the positives. If Minozzi is able to recover in time for the world cup then a back 3 with Him, hayward and Padovani together could potentially be very good. Also I wanted to ask those who follow the Top12 closer than I do, how is Odiete doing at Rovigo this year? I noticed that he has 20 tries in 16 games? should O'Scena consider giving him a go on the wing?

Second row & Lineout
it's been a few years that this position has been a big weakness, but the Sisi-Ruzza combination could be the answer that we have been looking for. Ruzza was our strongest lineout option (17 lineouts won) and he carried very well too. Sisi meanwhile tackled well and forced a couple of turnovers.
The lineout in general worked very well for us, 57/61 on our own throw and 13 steals, the best figures of the tournament according to this: https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/2019/03 ... s-to-2019/
It's great to see an area where we have traditionally been rather weak work so well

Back row
A bit of a mixed bag here, but I'm counting it as a plus overall:
Steyn was probably our player of the tournament, cementing his place as a key figure of the team, he stole 5 lineouts on his own (more than any other player,) he was our main ball carrier, he tackled well and won 4 turnovers.
Polledri when he returned from injury made an immediate impact. Parisse was an important part of our lineout success but was rather less effective elsewhere, Negri tackled very well but was not effective as a ball carrier. I seem to remember M'banda playing very well against Ireland before he was forced to go off, but the stats don't seem to back me up on this.

Luca Morisi
Wanted to give a special mention to him too, really happy to see him back and (fingers crossed) injury free. He seems to have made a habit of scoring at Twickenham

The tries scored column
Whilst our ability to score tries when it really matters is and remains absolutely woeful, we did manage to score 10 tries which is apparently only the third time we have done this, so I guess that's a plus? I dunno, I am reaching here...

Discipline
We conceded 41 penalties, which whilst still quite high, is less than France and Scotland and seems a lot less than previous years (i'll have to check on that)

Ok now for some negatives!

Missed tackles and other errors leading to easy tries
Ok, so we have a hard enough time in this championship with the gulf in class between us and the other teams, we simply can't afford to give away tries, and yet we continue to do so. Generally though our missed tackle count is far too high and along with Esposito (I promise not to droan on about him) the worst culprit was...

Michele Campagnaro
It's frustrating when your big name players don't perform to their best as you naturally have high expectations for them. Especially so in this case because Morisi did play well, if we could have both of them playing at their best at the same time they'd be a formidable centre partnership!

Our inability to punish other teams
The France game was an obvious example of us lacking a killer instinct, but there are other examples of where the opposition take their foot off the gas or get sloppy and we dont capitalise. More generally there seems to be a mental fragility about this team, which is why I sometimes wonder if we had a coach who would give them an arse kicking instead of O'Shea's softly softly approach whether that would make any difference?

Scrum half
Ok, so we have already discussed this, it's a real problem position for us at the minute. Tebaldi showed some flashes of inspiration mixed with a few brainfarts. He does play the ball quicker than Gori or Palazzani which helps the team to build momentum. He'll undoubtedly be our first choice for the world cup, but we desperately need some new blood in this position.

Parisse's long term future
I don't begrudge him a last crack at the world cup, but if for some reason he decides not to retire after the RWC, I think it would be better for the team to try to move on without him anyway. We can't keep relying on our old guys, no matter how great they were.

Bad news, Ghira has torn his cruciate ligaments, world cup probably in doubt now

sturginho wrote:Ok now for some negatives!

Missed tackles and other errors leading to easy tries
Ok, so we have a hard enough time in this championship with the gulf in class between us and the other teams, we simply can't afford to give away tries, and yet we continue to do so. Generally though our missed tackle count is far too high and along with Esposito (I promise not to droan on about him) the worst culprit was...

Michele Campagnaro
It's frustrating when your big name players don't perform to their best as you naturally have high expectations for them. Especially so in this case because Morisi did play well, if we could have both of them playing at their best at the same time they'd be a formidable centre partnership!

Our inability to punish other teams
The France game was an obvious example of us lacking a killer instinct, but there are other examples of where the opposition take their foot off the gas or get sloppy and we dont capitalise. More generally there seems to be a mental fragility about this team, which is why I sometimes wonder if we had a coach who would give them an arse kicking instead of O'Shea's softly softly approach whether that would make any difference?

Scrum half
Ok, so we have already discussed this, it's a real problem position for us at the minute. Tebaldi showed some flashes of inspiration mixed with a few brainfarts. He does play the ball quicker than Gori or Palazzani which helps the team to build momentum. He'll undoubtedly be our first choice for the world cup, but we desperately need some new blood in this position.

Parisse's long term future
I don't begrudge him a last crack at the world cup, but if for some reason he decides not to retire after the RWC, I think it would be better for the team to try to move on without him anyway. We can't keep relying on our old guys, no matter how great they were.

I cannot understand why O'Shea took on the job when Italy cannot even fluke a win.

lorcanoworms wrote: I cannot understand why O'Shea took on the job when Italy cannot even fluke a win.

My understanding is that he was promised the authority to make changes to the way the game is run in Italy. If that really was the case then he was sold a pack of lies, as there's no way Gavazzi is giving up one iota of decision making to the Head Coach. So the only changes he's been able to make have been things like appointing new fitness coach etc. Important but not the level he was probably thinking of

sturginho wrote:

lorcanoworms wrote: I cannot understand why O'Shea took on the job when Italy cannot even fluke a win.

My understanding is that he was promised the authority to make changes to the way the game is run in Italy. If that really was the case then he was sold a pack of lies, as there's no way Gavazzi is giving up one iota of decision making to the Head Coach. So the only changes he's been able to make have been things like appointing new fitness coach etc. Important but not the level he was probably thinking of

A lot of coaches have been lied to alright.
If Ireland were still playing well he'd have no chance of a job here.

OnRugby's pundits give their verdict: https://www.onrugby.it/2019/03/19/sei-n ... sconfitte/

A surprising development, Campagnaro is moving to Quins after the world cup: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby/ ... 95241.html

Crucial 2 points for Treviso against Leinster, here's the latest on the payoff situation:

Conference B

2. Ulster 54 (11 W, Points diff: – 6)
3. Benetton Rugby 52 (10 W, + 38)
4. Edinburgh 51 (10 W, + 41)
5. Scarlets 45 (9 W, 0)

Tie-breakers:

1. Games won
2. Points difference
3. Tries scored
4. Points scored
5. Try difference
6. Red cards received
7. Yellow cards received

Remaining fixtures

Round 20
Benetton Rugby v Munster
Edinburgh v Ulster
Scarlets v Zebre

Round 21
Dragons v Scarlets
Zebre v Benetton Rugby
Glasgow v Edinburgh
Ulster v Leinster

It's going to be tighter than a ducks arse

Marcello Violi has undergone another operation on his injured shoulder after he aggravated the original injury in training. World cup now looks very doubtful, Callum Brayley may well end up on the plane to Japan by default

Baffling watching Treviso today.

All they need to do is win but keep going for 7 like they need the BP. Commentary's egging them on too.