Stormers v Zebre Parma - Teams and Prediction
ROUND SIX RESCHEDULED: The Stormers will be looking to run Zebre Parma ragged on Sunday in a rescheduled United Rugby Championship Round Six game in Stellenbosch on Sunday.
The Stormers’ four-game unbeaten run in the competition ended with a loss to Connacht last month and their only previous fixture against an Italian team saw them beaten by Benetton six months ago.
Zebre Parma’s long wait for a victory continued with a 22-27 loss against the Ospreys last weekend but they did collect a losing bonus point for the first time since May.
They have, though, beaten South African opponents on three previous occasions, with one of those victories being away from home when they toppled the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth during the 2017-18 season.
“We want to make the most of the special atmosphere at the Danie Craven Stadium on Sunday and produce some good rugby,” said Stormers head coach John Dobson.
“It is great to be back on home soil and the team has worked very hard this week.
“We know this is the start of an important run of home games for us and we want to make sure we are as accurate as possible in all areas.”
#TeamAnnouncement: John Dobson reveals his Stormers team for the clash against Zebre Parma #URC #STOvZEB https://t.co/fbag3PRY7t
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) March 11, 2022
Dobson said they will be looking to return to a high-tempo game, which was something they could not implement in their 17-19 loss to Connacht in Galway.
“We definitely want to play that [high-tempo game] on Sunday,” Dobson added.
“It’s going to be a hot day out in Stellenbosch. We want to develop our own game.
“I think the players were a bit frustrated with the Connacht trip. We had to move away from our normal game.
“We had a great plan that served us well in the local in the derbies. We then went to a place where we had a different plan for both halves.
“There were two new plans in Connacht and we really want to get back to that tempo and how we play and develop that over the next five weeks.
“We definitely want to go back to our DNA and how we are trying to evolve this team over the next five weeks.
“Zebre are a very physical team, but we want to use that fast and wide field, the heat and our DNA to really play an up-tempo game.”
Prediction
@rugby365com: Stormers by 25 points.
Teams:
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Rikus Pretorius.
Zebre: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Junior Laloifi, 13 Erich Cronjé, 12 Timothy O’Malley, 11 Asaeli Tuivuaka, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Nicolò Casilio, 8 Renato Giammarioli (captain), 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Luca Andreani, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Liam Mitchell, 3 Ion Neculai, 2 Massimo Ceciliani, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio.
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Potu Junior Leavasa, 20 Maxime Mbandà, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Giulio Bisegni.
Date: Sunday, March 13
Venue: Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
Kick-off: 18.05 (17.05 Italy time; 16.05 GMT)
Referee: Adam Jones (Wales)
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Morne Fereirra (South Africa)
TMO: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
