Zebre

Zebre

Union	Italian Rugby Federation
Nickname(s)	The XV of the North-West
Founded	1973 (as Invitational Team – disbanded in 1997) 2012 (2012) (as Professional Team)
Location	Parma, Italy
Ground(s)	Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma (Capacity: 5,000)
President	Pier Luigi Bernabò
Coach(es)	Gianluca Guidi
Captain(s)	George Biagi
League(s)	Pro12
2014–15	12th
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.zebrerugby.eu

Zebre (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdzɛbre], meaning "Zebras"), are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the Guinness Pro12 and the Heineken Cup from the 2012–13 season.^[1] They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the FIR and replaced Aironi in the Pro12.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Zebre, often referred to as "the XV of the North-West" (Italian: il XV del Nord-Ovest), represents the four committees of Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Lombardy and Piedmont plus Northern Tuscany, which includes tens of thousands of members and several clubs.^[7]

History

The entry of Italian teams into the Celtic League had been proposed for many years. After several failed attempts, there was hope that a deal for Italian entry would be done in time for the 2010–11 season, with the Scots delaying support for entry until changes were made to the Celtic League management structure. In February 2010, it was announced that the planned expansion of the Celtic League was to be put on hold. The reasons were the insistence by existing members that the Italian teams could be ejected after three years. Also, the financial demands that the league placed on the Italians could not be met. The existing teams said this was to cover the need to have larger squads to cover the extra fixtures and additional travel expenses.^[8] Agreement was reached in early March 2010 to allow Italian teams entry to the Celtic League in time for the 2010–11 season.^[9] The clubs will also be guaranteed places in the annual Heineken Cup, which had previously been awarded to the two top teams in the National Championship of Excellence.

Italy have failed to make an impact in the Six Nations Championship since joining in 2000. This has largely been blamed on the fact their best players do not have a competitive enough domestic tournament or are forced to play abroad. The fact that the Six Nations decider in 2009 between Wales and Ireland featured 42 Celtic League players out of 44 in their squads supported this notion.^[10]

After initial applications in 2010, it was proposed that Aironi would join along with a new team, Praetorians Roma,^[11] but Benetton Rugby Treviso were nominated instead. Benetton Treviso and Duchi Nord-Ovest could not agree to form one club to represent the Veneto region and lost out in the first round of bidding despite the region being the traditional home of Italian rugby.^[12] However, Pretorians Roma failed to satisfy the evaluators of their financial muscle and Benetton Treviso were nominated in their place.^[13]

Aironi struggled in their first season; a surprise European Cup win over Biarritz was the only highlight of a campaign that saw them manage only one Pro12 victory. At the end of a second season of struggle on the pitch, Aironi succumbed to financial difficulties off it. Their licence to play both in the European Cup and Pro12 was revoked by the Italian Rugby Federation.^[14] The Federation decided against another domestic Italian club taking over the running of the licence, instead opting to maintain complete control of a planned new franchise.^[15] In June 2012, it was announced that the new franchise would be known as Zebre and based in Parma.^[16]

Zebre did not enjoy much success in their first season, 2012–13, finishing bottom after winless campaigns in both the Pro12 and the Heineken Cup. Although they finished the subsequent 2013-14 season bottom once again, their performance was much improved, seeing their first official victory against Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park into Round 3 of Pro12,^[17] in a season that saw a total of five league victories, with their away win in Cardiff followed by home victories against the Ospreys, Edinburgh, Cardiff Blues and Italian Rivals Treviso, who finished the season a single point ahead of Zebre. Although they fared somewhat worse in 2014-15, managing only 3 victories and finishing bottom of the table for the third season running, the 2015-16 saw them again earn five victories including back to back victories against Treviso and a bonus-point victory against the Newport Gwent Dragons, which saw Zebre avoid finishing in last place for the first time.

Current standings

2016–17 Pro12
	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Tries for	Tries against	Try bonus	Losing bonus	Points
1	Munster	10	8	0	2	267	129	+138	34	15	4	1	37
2	Leinster	10	8	0	2	264	183	+81	34	24	4	1	37
3	Ospreys	10	7	0	3	315	167	+148	45	21	7	1	36
4	Scarlets	10	7	0	3	222	174	+48	28	19	4	0	32
5	Ulster	9	6	0	3	192	146	+46	25	18	2	2	28
6	Glasgow Warriors	10	5	0	5	223	199	+24	30	24	4	3	27
7	Cardiff Blues	10	5	0	5	219	248	−29	25	30	1	1	22
8	Connacht	9	4	0	5	176	190	−14	22	23	3	1	20
9	Newport Gwent Dragons	10	3	0	7	170	237	−67	19	29	1	2	15
10	Edinburgh	10	3	0	7	213	236	−23	28	28	1	1	14
11	Zebre	8	1	0	7	118	253	−135	12	35	0	4	8
12	Benetton Treviso	10	1	0	9	125	342	−217	14	48	1	1	6
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[18] number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest number of red cards received; the fewest number of yellow cards received.
Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places, and earn a place in the 2017–18 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places, that earn a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup.

The team

Name History

Originally founded in 1973 by the former Italian national captain Marco Bollesan, Zebre (English: Zebras) was chosen, in 2012, by the Italian Rugby Federation as the new franchise's name. Previously, the name had been used by an invitational select rugby union team based in Northwest Italy that played regular fixtures between 1973 and 1997. In those 23 years, 25 matches were held against international clubs; and resulted in a high number of victories for Zebre. The opening match was an unofficial test played in Milan in 1973 against the Australian team of Randwick Sydney, who won 21–50. Zebre had a memorable 48–38 victory against the Barbarians in Brescia in June 1997.^[19]

Two other former select teams are I Dogi (The Doges) based in Triveneto and I Lupi (The Wolves) based in Central and Southern Italy.^[20]

Stadium and training

The team play in Parma at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, the home ground of Crociati Parma and the F.I.R. Academy. Initially, the ground is being refurbished and expanded. Zebre usually hold their summer training camp at Parma University.^[21] They played one match in the 2012–13 Pro12 season at Reggio Emilia's Stadio Città del Tricolore, against Leinster.^[22]

Staff and coaching team

• Director of Rugby – Gianluca Guidi
• Assistant Coaches – Roland De Marigny, Victor Jimenez, Fabio Roselli
• Team Manager – Andrea de Rossi
• Fitness coach – Silvano Garbini, Matteo Arbelti, Ada Lombardi
• Video analyst – Niccolò Gaetaniello

Players

Zebre is mostly based around Italian players, rather than foreigners.^[23] In 2012, of the initial list of 36 contracted players, only three were ineligible to play for Italy. Nineteen former Aironi players were included in the original squad. An emphasis on youth development was also visible, with a significant portion of the squad being made up of members of the Italian Rugby Federation Academy.^[21]

Current squad

2016-17 Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Tommaso D'Apice Hooker Italy Oliviero Fabiani Hooker Italy Carlo Festuccia Hooker Italy Andrea Manici Hooker Italy Pietro Ceccarelli Prop Italy Dario Chistolini Prop Italy Andrea De Marchi Prop Italy Bart le Roux Prop South Africa Andrea Lovotti Prop Italy Bruno Postiglioni Prop Argentina Guillermo Roan Prop Argentina Valerio Bernabò Lock Italy George Biagi Lock Italy Quintin Geldenhuys Lock Italy Gideon Koegelenberg Lock South Africa Federico Ruzza Lock Italy Joshua Furno Flanker Italy Maxime Mbanda Flanker Italy Johan Meyer Flanker South Africa Jacopo Sarto Flanker Italy Derick Minnie Number 8 South Africa Dries van Schalkwyk Number 8 Italy

Player Position Union Carlo Engelbrecht Scrum-half South Africa Guglielmo Palazzani Scrum-half Italy Marcello Violi Scrum-half Italy Serafin Bordoli Fly-half Argentina Carlo Canna Fly-half Italy Edoardo Padovani Fly-half Italy Failaga Afamasaga Centre Samoa Giulio Bisegni Centre Italy Tommaso Boni Centre Italy Tommaso Castello Centre Italy Matteo Pratichetti Centre Italy Mattia Bellini Wing Italy Dion Berryman* Wing New Zealand Gabriele Di Giulio Wing Italy Lloyd Greeff Wing South Africa Giovanbattista Venditti Wing Italy Kurt Baker Fullback New Zealand Kayle van Zyl Fullback South Africa

• Players in bold capped internationally.
• Players qualified to play for Italy on residency or dual nationality. *
• Players and their allocated positions from the Zebre Rugby Website.^[24]

Additional Players Squad

Additional players from National Championship of Excellence^[25]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Giovanni Pettinelli (Calvisano) Flanker Italy Fabio Semenzato (Calvisano) Scrum-half Italy Simone Balocchi (Colorno) Wing Italy

Academy Players Squad

Additional players from F.I.R. Academy Squad^[26][27]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union Massimo Ceciliani Hooker Italy Giovanni D’Onofrio Wing Italy

Selected former players

Former players who have played for Zebre and have caps for their respective country

Season records

Celtic League / Pro12

Heineken Cup / Rugby Champions Cup

European Rugby Challenge Cup

See also

• Pro12
• Heineken Cup
• Aironi

References

External links

• Official Site (Italian)
• Zebre section on Official Pro12 Site (English)
• Official Facebook Page (Italian)
• Official Twitter Page (Italian)

Rugby union in Italy
Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR)
National teams	Women's Italy 7's Men's Italy A 7's U-20 U-18
League competitions	Men's Pro12 Excellence Serie A Serie B Serie C
Cup competitions	Men's European Rugby Champions Cup European Rugby Challenge Cup Qualifying Competition Excellence Trophy
Related articles	World Cup Six Nations International players Trofeo Garibaldi 1995–97 FIRA Trophy Aironi (disbanded) Zebre
Clubs Players Coaches Referees Venues