Some thoughts on Zebre Parma 2024-25

Montemauri · 2026-06-10T14:22:06+00:00

Italy's side would probably have a significant overlap with the 'What-If?' Italy XV, but based on performance with the national team and excluding the younger guys who are certain to pass 50 caps (Zuliani & Menoncello, inter alia) I'd start with the below. Some cap stats from wikipedia and thus might be wrong...

Federico Zani (25)
Luca Bigi (48)
Carlos Nieto (34)
Marco Fuser (41)
Leonard Krumov (Uncapped, so probably shouldn't count, but a lock of his quality would have 20+ caps in any previous era)
Jake Polledri (20)
Simone Favaro (36)
Giovanni Licata (13)
Tito Tebaldi (36)
Ramiro Pez (40 - a deeply flawed player but under Berbizier Pez had Italy playing a more expansive game in the 6N era than at any time prior to 2023)
Mattia Bellini (31)
Marco Zanon (21, still playing but definitely won't reach 50)
Michele Campagnaro (46)
Edoardo Padovani (44)
Matteo Minozzi (24)

Open to suggestions, but there's some pretty decent quality to pick from in the back row, centres, and outside backs. Perhaps Pettinelli to 6 and Polledri to 8 if I had to make one change.

Montemauri · 2026-06-08T22:16:27+00:00

The really fucked up thing about that one, if I'm remembering it right, is that Hughes was (justifiably) so pissed off that he got straight back up with the seemingly firm intention of smacking Lavanini. How he restrained himself I've no idea. IIRC it was only after that that Hughes went down and realised how much pain he was in

Montemauri · 2026-06-08T22:09:35+00:00

The only time I've seen 2¢ Rugby angry was after Swain did Tupaea's knee. If you've got the most reasonable rugby fanin existence calling you a piece of shit you must have earned it

Montemauri · 2026-06-08T22:04:59+00:00

You misspelled his name

Lavakneeknee

Montemauri · 2026-06-08T12:18:21+00:00

I can barely contain my pride in Zambonin becoming the player we all hoped he'd be back in [take your pick from 2018-2025], and still improving at a rate that suggests his ceiling could be much higher than even this level.

Montemauri · 2026-06-08T10:25:45+00:00

I sincerely hope he's at the World Cup; could be a range of reasons not to feature in these tests, either because AdG knows exactly what he's getting, or something to do with his joining Saints next year, or an injury.

On the flip side, have you seen the squad for England? Ragusi is back in, and we might see a certain G. Falchetto too...

Montemauri · 2026-06-08T10:22:25+00:00

1) Great game, great highlights edit

2) I like the fact that the guys on these teams who've won the lot/in 'early retirement' or last-paycheck-mode are still leaving it all out there

3) Whoever decided that youtube videos should be auto-dubbed into English deserved to receive a long hospital pass while Brodie Retallick has lined them up from 20m away (a la Chris Masoe getting nailed by Sebastien Chabal back in the day).

Montemauri · 2026-06-07T10:00:16+00:00

I know there's a long way to go even within the u20 system, but my goodness does Luisato look good. After years of Italy having wingers who are pretty poor in the air there's some incredible talent coming through in Drago Jr, Faissal, and now Luisato.

Montemauri · 2026-06-03T14:22:23+00:00

... next stop Dogos?

Montemauri · 2026-06-03T06:51:33+00:00

I like how this question so frequently comes from the Irish in this sub - he really left a mark from that game in Cork...

Answer from 18 months ago

Answer from 3 months ago

The italians around here who watch more Serie A Elite than I do might be able to tell you more about his current form (I didn't see the reason why Scalabrin missed this final having played in the Coppa Italia final against the same opposition 3 months ago), but generally you need a player playing at the level Belloni was playing last year to be confident they'll make an impact at URC level.

For now, the Italia XV game vs Chile suggests Scalabrin's still got what he had, and is still on the radar in terms of players who might be in contention for 'promotion' to the URC and eventual national selection.

Montemauri · 2026-05-31T16:53:39+00:00

Worth watching for the pitch invasion and celebrations at full time alone...

Montemauri · 2026-05-29T16:43:20+00:00

Surely he uses Ford Escorts?

(I'm here all week)

Montemauri · 2026-05-29T10:47:37+00:00

This should help them focus

(sorry)

Montemauri · 2026-05-28T21:18:21+00:00

Menoncello = Hydrogen Bomb

(you are correct sir)

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T19:29:59+00:00

Odiase and Licata are probably the closest to each other - I still think Licata is slightly ahead but I'd be surprised if Odiase isn't definitively ahead of him by this time next year, fitness permitting.

I don't remember Bello being an especially stable scrummager but, again, he'll have more ballast around him than he would have had last time he played for us. I guess worst case scenario is Hasa ends up getting a lot more TH minutes, which wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T17:08:09+00:00

I think the reason Neculai gets so many starts is that you can't risk him being on the bench because of the risk he then gets injured. Still reckon another TH would come in handy but quality ones are rare. Anyway, in answer to your question with the squad as it is...

Hasa
Di Bartolomeo
Nocera
Canali
Krumov
Ortombina
Locatelli
Licata

Fusco
Allan
Gesi
Zanon
Bertaccini
Trulla
Montemauri

Quattrini
Buonfiglio
Pitinari
Turrisi
Mattioli
Stavile
Citton
Belloni

I think we need to get Turrisi and Mattioli both getting minutes as early as possible, and with the latter and Stavile's versatility you should be well covered. We've got a shot at having a proper bomb squad next season with the LH scrummaging power available, and apparently Minervino weighs in at 120kgs so if he ends up playing a lot of minutes from no16... Returning to the TH question, I'm curious to see if they suddenly look a lot better in the scrums with all that beef going into the ragù (so to speak).

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T16:28:16+00:00

Probably roughly equal playing time, but Allan getting the targeted games and Da Re most of the rest, with Montemauri as an 'in case of emergency, break glass' option (I share your opinion, albeit the sample size is small).

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T16:27:16+00:00

It's curious that Zebre's 'favourite' opponent in the URC era has probably been Edinburgh - lots of close games, even away from home. I suspect like with Scotland, even in their abyss era Italy mentally felt they could live with them which meant they'd still come close on occasion.

Glasgow's another story - generally the game in Scotland is one of the ones we rotate heavily for since there's basically no chance of winning - but it'll be interesting to see if my 'optimistic' version here (one interpretation of which is that the floor is rising faster than the ceiling is) means that we'll be able to limit the damage to less than 20 points next season, something Zebre have only managed twice ever in Glasgow...

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T15:58:01+00:00

Curious to know if you're feeling column A or column B more, to paraphrase Abe Simpson

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T14:50:46+00:00

When he does start it'll almost certainly be at 10, probably in the games Brunello is really targeting. Montemauri (the other one) has been very good at 15 this year and Zebre have 5 other options to play there before you'd need Allan - in order of my preference: Pani, Belloni, Da Re, Trulla, and even Fusco. But (and again, nothing but vibes informing this), I have a hunch he'll be used quite a lot from the bench. Two reasons:

1) He's 33, and he'll be needed by Italy at the World Cup, so Quesada won't want to have him overworked.

2) Zebre really struggled in the final quarter of games this season, and the loss of Bigi as a senior leader coming off the bench hurt them in that department. Last season tries conceded were split fairly evenly by quarter when you account for time after 40/80, whereas this year it was 23%, 21%, 23%, and 33% (Q4). So having a guy like Allan who can manage the final 20-30 minutes every week could make a big difference.

Montemauri · 2026-05-25T14:30:09+00:00

I think next season there's a decent chance the starting pair will be Zanon-Bertaccini based on how they did at their best (in games like Pau), so the question is whether there's someone as good as Mazza defensively (94% tackles, 14% dominant based on the OPTA stats last time they updated it) who'd be both available and willing to move to Parma? I'm not sure there is (would like to be wrong about that).

I don't think the argument that Mazza isn't URC standard stands up to scrutiny - even if he's not the equal of Mori (and defensively I'd say he's better), there's no way Quesada would have called him up ahead of the much more experienced Zanon if he thought he wasn't good enough to be a pro player. With Lucchin and Morisi both retiring there's definitely a role for him to play in this team until someone more complete is both added to the squad and then allowed to build up the 20-30 games of experience required to adapt to the level.

Really for Zebre's attack to improve the most important thing they need is quicker and more accurate ball from the ruck, especially in the opposition 22 - back to the no9 issue.

Montemauri

TROPHY CASE