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Molto bene! Zebre end near year-long wait for a win

Tommaso Boni

Zebre won for the first time in 2019 by upsetting the Dragons 39-12 at Rodney Parade in the Guinness PRO14.

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The Italians took the spoils and even got a bonus point thanks to tries by wing James Elliott, full-back Edoardo Padovani, centre Tommaso Boni, wing Charlie Walker and flanker Maxime Mbanda.

It was a dominant performance by the Italians and an awful one by the Dragons, whose tries came from back row forwards Harrison Keddie and Taine Basham.

Zebre had not won in any competition since beating Enisei-STM in the European Challenge Cup last December, with one of their defeats a 52-28 hammering at the hands of the Dragons in Parma.

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In an exclusive feature-length documentary, RugbyPass goes behind the scenes with Zebre Rugby Club in the build-up to their pre-season match with local rivals Benetton Rugby.

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They avenged that loss in style, having the edge in the first half and then stretching away early in the second.

The Italians opened the scoring in the ninth minute when, after a charge into the 22 by back row forward Mbanda, winger Elliott grounded fly-half Carlo Canna’s well-judged grubber kick over the line. Canna converted for a 7-0 lead.

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It was level in the 19th minute when centre Jack Dixon barged through in midfield for the Dragons before calmly putting number eight Keddie over for a try that Arwel Robson converted.#

Canna put the visitors back in front with a well-struck penalty and then, minutes after being wide with a drop goal, repeated the trick from the tee for a 13-7 lead.

The Dragons wasted a chance to reduce the deficit when Robson pushed a penalty attempt and their mood was not helped by a wasted lineout opportunity 10 metres out from the final play of the half.

Zebre were in total command just four minutes after the restart when full-back Padovani raced over down the left from Elliott’s offload and Canna converted.

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It was swiftly followed by a slick attack that ended with centre Boni crashing over for Canna to make it 27-7.

Zebre were going for the kill and got the bonus point that their performance deserved when Walker went over from Canna’s floated pass after 70 minutes.

Basham, who had been with Wales earlier in the week for the Barbarians fixture, crashed over straight from the restart when a clearance kick was charged down.

But Zebre had the last say when impressive flanker Mbanda raced clear, with replacement back Michelangelo Biondelli adding the conversion.

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H
Head high tackle 2 hours ago
Can Samoa and Tonga ever become contenders when their top talent is skimmed?

I think you have gone in the wrong direction here Nick. I think you need to delve down into the rules etc around Moana Pacifica’s selection policies and then you need to understand that a lot of KIWI BORN rugby players have PI heritage. It appears ok for the 4 home nations to pillage NZ born players constantly without retribution but you want to question whether NZ BORN players should be eligible for NZ? Seems a real agenda in there.

Go back and look at the actual Aims and agenda for MP becoming a entity and you see lots of things enshrined in policy that you arnt mentioning here. EG there is an allowance for a percentage of MP to be NZ eligible. This was done so MP could actually become competitive. Lets be real. If it wasnt this way then MP would not be competitive.

There also seems to be some sort of claim ( mainly from the NH ) that NZ is “cashing in” on MP, which , quite frankly is a major error. Are you aware of how much MP costs NZR Financially?

39 NZ born rugby players played at the last world cup for Samoa or Tonga. PLUS plenty for Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.

Taumoefolau is a BORN AND BRED NZer. However I very strongly doubt he will be an AB, but who do you believe he should be allowed to play for? Levi Aumua is ALSO a born and bred Kiwi.

Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He IS eligible for his nation of Birth too Nick

He is a Kiwi. Are you saying an NZ born, raised Kiwi cant play for NZ now?

Sorry Nick Kiwi born and bred actually qualify for NZ.

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