Guest Article: Zebre Parma - A New Direction for 22/23

Introduction

Firstly, let’s get the elephant out of the way, this prior season (2021/22) was a very difficult one for Zebre. Between the lack of results on the pitch, worries about the future participation of the franchise in the URC and debts owed to the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR), this past 12 months have not been easy. But after all of this, the franchise has survived and is forging a new direction for itself, with FIR president Marzio Innocenti backing the idea that the club will remain in the URC and in Parma. 

Now what are Zebre doing in regards to forging this new path? Firstly, a structural change at Zebre has taken place with the appointment of Michele Dalai as the sole director, who in the past has been very public, open and outspoken about the issues in the previous management of Zebre. Secondly, towards the end of last season, Fabio Roselli was brought in from the Italian U20 age grade team as the new head coach and, with that, a change of performances has been tangible, with 1 match won and 3 lost by 3 points or less out of the 6 games he was in charge. Thirdly, the Zebre U20/U23 academy has been confirmed ahead of next season and an initial set of 10 players is already training in the Cittadella del Rugby. Fourthly, a large portion of the team has changed with over 20 players leaving and over 20 incoming with an overwhelming majority being youth players (details to follow). Fifthly, a recent confirmation of the rebranding of Zebre that began last season with the rename to Zebre Parma. This has been furthered this summer with a launch of the new logo, new website (zebreparma.it/) and club colours (yellow and blue), linking the club further to the city of Parma and the region. Finally, a large portion of the debt owed by the club to the FIR has been repaid during this past season, with Zebre Parma finding itself in a greater financial position and growing commercially.

U20/U23 Academy

A big change to the whole Italian rugby development is the replacement of the former FIR U20 Academy to two U20/U23 Academies ran by Zebre Parma and Benetton (amongst other changes at lower age grades). This change was summed up by the FIR Director of the High Youth Level, German Fernadez: "Being able to participate in the activity of the two Italian franchises and to work day after day with the staff of the Franchises and with the athletes included in the Benetton Rugby and Zebre Parma Rugby squads represents the ideal completion of the elite formation of the best products of the Italian rugby movement". The 10 athletes who will be part of the Zebre Parma academy include many of the Italian U20 team (and other age grades) such as ; Riccardo BARTOLINI, Giacomo FERRARI, Alessandro FILONI, Riccardo GENOVESE, Alessandro GESI, Mattia MAZZANTI, Giovanni QUATTRINI, Luca RIZZOLI, Samuele TADDEI, and Emanuele TANI. All of these players show a great amount of potential having achieved unprecedented success in the U20 Six Nations (3 wins ; Wales, Scotland, England) and U20 Summer Series (third place out of eight teams, with wins over Scotland, Georgia and England).

Transfers

There has been a large number of players to leave Parma, many of which having been with the franchise for numerous years including both former and current internationals. Some recent transfers include internationals Danilo FISCHETTI and Giosuè ZILOCCHI to London Irish, Renato GIAMMARIOLI to Worcester, Eduardo BELLO to Saracens and Carlo CANNA to Fiamme Oro. Among the former internationals who have left the club we find figures such as Andrea LOVOTTI, Oliviero FABIANI, Maxime MBANDA and Giulio BISEGNI to Colorno, Guglielmo PALAZZANI to Calvisano and Jimmy TUIVAITI to Valorugby Emilia, amongst many others who have called Parma home in recent years.

In replacement of these players leaving, Zebre have taken the direction of bringing in a large number of perspective talents, younger than those leaving alongside a number of experienced foreign players. The players entering Zebre Parma for the oncoming season are :

Alessio SANAVIA, 25 - Loosehead Prop/Hooker; A constant feature in his former club Valorugby Emilia having played 19 matches last season. He brings a strong presence in the scrum and a reliable running option. This will be his first experience in elite level rugby and with it, further his development as a player.

Jacques DU TOIT, 28 - Hooker; A reliable South African hooker with a great amount of experience having played for Bath, Southern Kings and Cheetahs. His prior season with Bath he played a total of 26 matches between the Premiership, Premiership Cup, Champions Cup and Challenge Cup. An important asset that the whole front row will be able to learn a lot from.

Giampietro RIBALDI, 25 - Hooker; Already part of Zebre as a permit player last season (the club season spent playing for Zebre and Viadana), he has now been brought into Zebre on a full term contract. A very powerful runner with ball in hand, having scored 9 tries with Viadana and numerous tries for Italy A/Emergenti last season. 

Muhamed HASA, 20 - Tighthead Prop; A powerful scrummager coming from the Top 10 champions Petrarca, he finds himself in the company of his Italy U20s teammate Ion Neculai in the tighthead position. 

Jan UYS, 28 - Lock; One of two experienced South African locks arriving at the club, Uys has played for a variety of teams such as Pau Espoirs, Brive (Top 14, Challenge Cup, Pro D2) and the Bulls (URC and having played in the Rainbow Cup final).

Dennis VISSER, 29 - Lock; Arriving from 3 seasons at Narbonne (and gaining promotion to the Pro D2 in that time). Visser brings some experience to the team (also previously played with the Cheetahs and the Bulls in South Africa). Unfortunately at the time of this writing, Visser has suffered a long term injury during preseason.

Joshua FURNO, 32 - Lock; A late signing to the club after the injury to Visser, Furno returns to Zebre after 5 seasons and brings both international experience (37 caps) and a vast array of elite level league experiences from across the globe. 

Guido VOLPI, 26 - Backrow; Arriving from Doncaster Knights (previously with the Ospreys and Narbonne Espoirs), Volpi was a regular feature in the Championship side having played 17 out of 20 games. Volpi has represented Argentina at U18 level but is also Italian qualified.

MJ PELSER, 23 - Backrow; A young South African backrower arriving from the Lions system having been part of the club’s academy before appearances in Super Rugby Unlocked, Rainbow Cup and Currie Cup.

Davide RUGGERI, 23 - Backrow; A highly regarded player coming from Rovigo having won the Peroni Top 10 in 2021, he has captained the Italian youth teams and Italia A/Emergenti this past season, whilst scoring numerous tries on the way. Ruggeri enters the team in a strongly contested backrow where he will be looking for that start 8 jersey.

Gonzalo GARCIA, 23 - Scrum Half; An extremely exciting prospect enters the scrum half battle with Argentinean international Garcia. Having arrived at Valorugby Emila last season, Garcia quickly showed his talent, helping to guide the team to the Peroni Top 10 semi-final and shortlisted for most valuable player last season.

Ratko JELIC, 21 - Scrum Half; Another exciting prospect in the scrum half battle is former Italy U20 and Italy 7s scrum half Jelic. A regular feature with his prior club Viadana, Jelic brings further youth and a different type of experience having been on the 7s circuit with Italy for the prior two seasons. 

Tiff EDEN, 27 - Fly Half; The former Bristol Bears fly half brings experience into the position with Canna returning to Fiamme Oro. Eden brings this experience from the Premiership, Championship and Challenge Cup (making his debut in the cup against Zebre) and will find a good challenge for the starting jersey upon arrival. 

Nicolò TENEGGI, 19 - Fly Half; A later addition to the team, Teneggi arrives from Valorugby Emilia having not played any club matches last season but was a standout performer in an incredibly strong Italy U20 team, having helped guide the team to 3 wins in the U20 Six Nations and beating England U20 twice this past season. 

Joey CAPUTO, 22 - Fly Half; A product of the Brumbies academy system, Caputo arrived in Benetton last season, played a number of games for Mogliano and a call up to Italy 7s. This season Caputo finds himself at Zebre where he hopes to make his URC debut. 

Damiano MAZZA, 23 - Centre; Arriving from 4 seasons at Calvisano, Mazza arrives with experience from the Peroni Top 10, Challenge Cup and Italian youth teams. Having been a part of Rugby Parma in his youth, entering Zebre holds a particular importance for Mazza as he begins to fight his way into the starting team. 

Matteo MOSCARDI, 22 - Centre; Former Italy U20 centre Moscardi arrives at Zebre after 3 seasons at Rogivo where he was a regular starter. In his 3 seasons at Rovigo, Moscardi featured in 39 matches (17/16/6), with 33 of those as a starter (15/12/4). Moscardi gained his first senior international experience this past season having played for Italia Emergenti.

Franco SMITH JR, 22 - Centre; Arriving late last season at Zebre and appearing in 3 matches, Smith has now fully signed with the club. Showing some promising talent in his few appearances, Smith looks ahead to this season to further his development and establish himself as a professional player.  

Kobus VAN WYK, 30 - Wing; Van Wyk enters Zebre with a great amount of elite level experience in multiple leagues at teams such as Leicester Tigers, Hurricanes, Stormers and Sharks. A great point of reference for a very young back line, Van Wyk brings a great skillset of speed, handling and strength in the tackle.

Simone GESI, 21 - Wing; MVP of last seasons Peroni Top 10, Gesi has already made a great impression in the URC having played for Zebre as a permit player and now on a full time contract. In addition to his performances at Zebre, Gesi previously represented Italy youth teams and this past season gained his first senior international experience with Italia Emergenti/A.

Richard KRIEL, 22 - Fullback; Arriving from the Bulls (and formerly Cheetahs), Kriel has spent the past two seasons predominantly in the Currie Cup and a debut in the URC this past season. Able to play both wing and fullback, Kriel is noted for his speed and attacking with ball in hand.

Lorenzo PANI, 19 - Fullback; Arriving late last season from Benetton, Pani arrives with a lot of promise and raw talent having displayed this in his 3 appearances for Zebre and years in the Italian youth teams. This past season saw Pani as one of the standout performers of the Italy U20 team which also earned recognition in the U20 Summer Series Best XV.

A change on the pitch

With a large change in playing staff, this is accompanied by a new direction taking place on the pitch in both attack and defence. This will be directed by head coach Fabio Roselli (formerly of the Italy U20 coaching staff), Aldo Birchall (defence coach arriving from CSKA Moscow) with both having arrived in April. The attack of Zebre Parma will be orchestrated by newly arriving attack coach David Williams (formerly of Bath, Cheetahs, Southern Kings and Sharks).

The focus in attack ahead of the upcoming season is to create a quicker game at the club. An open and fast attack with multiple running options offered by both forwards and backs. This is not to say that the defence has been ignored, Birchall has stated that the defence ahead of next season will be far more aggressive than in previous years with the ability to put pressure on the opposition, a greater work ethic and a vastly improved disciplinary record. It is reported these changes in direction have been received extremely well by all involved with a great level of enthusiasm growing at the club.

Conclusion

Clearly, a great deal of change has happened at Zebre Parma, a change that started earlier this season and continued throughout the summer. The team finds itself flooded with youth and a desire to be competitive in the URC above all else. At the time of this writing, the match schedule of the new URC season has been released with Zebre finding a trial by fire to begin with Leinster, Sharks, Munster, Stormers and Scarlets as the first five opponents (in that order). Zebre Parma finds itself with a new lease on life and direction headed by its director Dalai, with full support of the FIR, and brings a great amount of excitement ahead of the new season. With all of these changes and growing enthusiasm at the club, the next step of Zebre Parma will be putting this into action on the pitch.

Written by Lupo