The Emirates Lions were made to work hard for their 50-35 win against Zebre Parma at Loftus Versfeld. Zebre Parma kept fighting until the last seconds of the match despite being outplayed by the Emirates Lions during the final quarter.
The match will not be remembered for the defensive effort from either team who missed a total of 42 tackles and conceded 17 penalties. However, the 13 tries scored did provide some excitement.
Poor defence from the kickoff allowed Simone Gesi to stroll over the Emirates Lions tryline after just 40 sec of play.
After the initial shock, the Emirates Lions responded with a brilliant beak by Sanele Nohamba from the back of a dominant scrum to go over in the corner. The Emirates Lions continued to attack and brilliant handling and interplay by their backs put Edwill van der Merwe into open space to score the Emirates Lions' second try from within their own half to lead 12-05.
Tiff Eden converted a penalty for Zebre Parma to reduce the Emirates Lions to just 4 after 20 minutes of play.
Zebre Parma started to apply continued pressure and Simone Gesi eventually scored his second try of the match, after a try was disallowed minutes before, for the visitors to retake the lead by 15-12.
Jaco Kriel was the Emirates Lions' immediate response from the back of a 15m mall. An exciting ding-dong battle with both teams having their "moments".
Horrible defence from the Emirates Lions on their tryline made it easy for Simone Gesi to score his third try, which was immediately replied to with Edwill van der Merwe going over in the corner for his second try of the match just before halftime.
The Emirates Lions were not finished and a late try by Quan Horn under the posts added 7 points to the lead of the Emirates Lions.
The Emirates Lions led 31-22 after 40 minutes of action and entertainment while Zebre Parma will start with 14 men after Guido Volpi was set off with a yellow card for an illegal tackle just before the halftime whistle.
Tiff Eden converted an early penalty for the visitor, whereafter the Emirates Lions started to apply pressure which eventually resulted in a second yellow card which was shown to Zebre Parma (Tiff Eden) after 10 minutes of play in the second half.
Although the Emirates Lions failed to score from the resulting 5m lineout-maul, Sanele Nohamba sniped again from behind the maul to score his second try of the match after which the Emirates Lions led 36-25 with 30 minutes of play to go.
The Emirates Lions continued to dominate territory and following 10 minute of play Andries Coetzee scored in the corner to increase the Emirates Lions' lead to 43-25.
The Emirates Lions continued their dominance and Rhynardt Rijnsburger scored their 8th try from the back of a 5m lineout maul. However, Zebre Parma struck back immediately following once again the disappointing defence of the Emirates Lions, Jacopo Trulla scoring an easy try in the corner.
Juan Pitinari scored Zebre Parma's 5th try following a period of attack on the tryline of the Emirates Lions. The Emirates Lions lead was reduced by 10 points in 4 minutes to lead 50-35 and 10 minutes to play
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Tries: Sanele Nohamba (2), Edwill van der Merwe (2), Jaco Kriel, Quan Horn, Andries Coetzee, Rhynardt Rijnsburger. Conversions: Sanele Nohamba (5)
Zebre Parma: Tries: Simone Gesi (3), Jacopo Trulla, Juan Pitinari. Conversions: Tiff Eden (2). Penalties: Tiff Eden (2).
Teams:
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jacobus Kriel, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Rhynardt Rijnsburger. Replacements: 16 Morné Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.
Zebre Parma: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Richard Kriel, 12 Enrico Lucchin (c), 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Giacomo Ferrari, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Guido Volpi, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio. Replacements: 16 Marco Manfredi, 17 Juan Pitinari, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 David Sisi, 20 Davide Ruggeri, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 23 Damiano Mazza.