Zebre break Lions' hearts with late try

MATCH REPORT: The Lions suffered their second defeat in a row in this season’s United Rugby Championship after they went down 20-22 to Zebre in Parma on Sunday.

The visitors were leading the Round Two encounter 20-15 with less than two minutes left on the clock before replacement prop Matteo Nocera scored the crucial try for Zebre with Martin Farias landing the winning conversion.

It was a heartbreaking end for Ivan van Rooyen’s side after they staged a fightback in the second half after being 3-12 down at half-time.

The home side had an opportunity to open the scoring in the seventh minute, but flyhalf Giacomo Da Re pushed his penalty goal attempt wide from long range.

However, a few minutes later, Zebre showed what they are capable of with ball in hand, and after some swift passing and great running, Bautista Stavile was on hand to finish things off with a try.

The Lions scored their first points in the 17th minute with a penalty goal by Chris Smith.

Stavile thought he scored his second try in the 22nd minute when he dived over the Lions’ tryline after a maul. However, the TMO spotted some obstruction by one of his teammates in the build-up.

The Italians eventually got their second try when Tommaso Di Bartolomeo found his way to the tryline from another driving maul in the 35th minute.

The Lions played with more determination in the opening stages of the second half, and the pressure took its toll on Zebre, with Samuele Locatelli being sent to the sinbin for his side’s repeated infringements.

And not long after that, the Lions thought they scored their first try when replacement hooker Morne Brandon found his way to the tryline from a maul. But, after a review, the officials ruled that there was a double movement.

Their try eventually came in the 52nd minute when they sliced through the Zebre defence and after some great support play, Angelo Davids gave the final ball to SJ Kotze who dived over for the five-pointer.

Some more excellent attacking plays between forwards and backs resulted in a try for Eduan Keyter in the 56th minute. Smith missed his second conversion, but the Lions had a one-point lead.

Replacement Farias reestablished the lead for Zebre in the 64th minute with a penalty goal.

However, after sustained pressure with ball in hand, Brandon scored his try in the 74th minute when Zebre failed to deal with broken play,

With the clock winding down, Zebre tested the Lions’ defence one more time and Nocera powered his way over for the crucial try.

Farias’ conversation tipped the scoreline in Zebre’s favour.

Man of the match: The award goes to Zebre loose forward Bautista Stavile for his all-round game, and he also scored the opening try of the match.

The scorers:

For Zebre Parma:
Tries: Stavile, Di Bartolomeo, Nocera
Cons: Da Re, Farias
Pen: Farias

For Lions:
Tries: Kotze, Keyter, Brandon
Con: Dobela
Pen: Smith

Yellow card: Samuele Locatelli (Zebre, 47′ – repeated breakdown infringements)

Teams:

Zebre Parma: 15 Giovanni Montemauri, 14 Mirko Belloni, 13 Giulio Bertaccini, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Davide Ruggeri, 7 Bautista Stavile, 6 Samuele Locatelli, 5 Leonard Krumov (captain), 4 Alessandro Ortombina, 3 Ion Neculai, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Muhamed Hasa.
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Juan Pitinari, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Giacomo Ferrari, 21 Thomas Dominguez, 22 Marco Zanon, 22 Martin Roger Farias.

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Renzo du Plessis, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Sebastian Lombard, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Haashim Pead, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Rynhardt Jonker.

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Manuel Bottino (Italy), Luca Bisetto (Italy)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)