The Emirates Lions will enter their clash against Zebre Parma at Loftus Versfeld 13:00 (SA Time) on Saturday as favourites given the fact that the Italian outfit has lost all their matches this season and come off a heavy 78-12 defeat against the Vodacom Bulls last week.
The Johannesburgers will also want to make up for their heart-breaking last-minute defeat against log-leaders Leinster last week, which dashed all hopes of them squeezing through to the quarter-finals following a brave comeback in the competition in the last few rounds, and to finish the season on a high note.
Zebre Parma will have to step up their defence, in particular, to create an upset, as they have the worst defensive record in the competition with 684 points conceded in 17 matches.
Emirates Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher believes there’s no lack of motivation ahead of his team’s final 2022/23 Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Zebra Parma.
Out of Top 8 contention, the Emirates Lions attack mentor believes that Saturday will be an opportunity to fix the wrongs from last week’s last-minute 36-39 loss against Leinster by being more clinical.
“We expect them (Zebre Parma) to come out guns blazing after their defeat against the Vodacom Bulls as I’m sure they, as we do, want to finish the campaign on a high,” said Loubscher.
“From our point of view, we’ve prepared well this week and placed quite a bit of emphasis on improvement ahead of Saturday. That’s the motivation for us; to finish on a high while improving from last week’s performance,” a confident Loubscher said.
In team news, speedster Rabz Maxwane returns to the starting XV as too does Ruan Venter. Stalwart Jaco Kriel runs out for his final professional game in what has been a stellar career for the explosive loose-forward. Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg is due to make his 50th international club cap for the Lions across all competitions.
“We scored five tries against Leinster last week Saturday where we probably missed out on a couple more, so it’s about finishing off those missed opportunities and being as clinic as possible on Saturday against the Italians,” Loubscher
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.