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Epic stadium scenes emerge from Serie A Elite derby in Italy
By Josh Raisey
The Stadio Mario Battaglini played host to the 'Derby d'Italia' on Sunday as Serie A Elite leaders Rovigo welcomed Petrarca.
With just 25 miles separating the two clubs in northern Italy, it is a hotly contested derby with a 75-year history and almost 200 contests.
The hosts came out on top in their latest meeting, beating Petrarca 12-10 in the 178th clash between the two sides to maintain their lead at the top of the league with a ten point lead over the third-place visitors.
There is no clearer sign of the importance of this derby to its fans than the reaction to the win. Rovigo shared a video on social media of the players celebrating with a rapturous crowd, with flags waving and flares lit.
Take a look at the scenes:
View this post on Instagram
Head coach Alessandro Lodi said after the match (translated by Google): “It was a very difficult match. I want to congratulate Petrarca for playing a great match, I think the best this year.
"We started badly, in the first half we were very tight, Petrarca had possession and territory. Between the first and second half I told the boys that the time had come to attack, they had spent a lot but achieved little. In the second half we managed to overturn the result, we had more clarity.
"We are happy for the public, the boys showed that they have a lot of heart and have the right mentality."
Rovigo travel to take on fourth-place Valorugby Emilia in the next round, while Petrarca host seventh-place Rugby Lyons.
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Latest Comments
The Reds just didn’t seem to be gelling with McReight as captain. Something wasn’t quite right. McReight had a very quiet game against the Western Force. Uncharacteristically quiet.
McReight is a freak talent with exceptional skills that some of the Reds player may have been trying to follow whereas Wilson is more solid. Which is what the Reds need at the moment before they unleash.
Go to commentsWell Razor told us last year his main concern was momentum, that the new subs were introduced at a time when ones coming off had laid the right platform. Whatever that means it resulted in some late substitutions and multiple times were none were done at all.
It is the antithesis of the general idea of what subs are supposed to provide, bringing impact into the game.
A lot of his subs were very young, so along with making sure you’ve got the finally flurry out of your starter, there could be some merit to the idea. It was just done so late so often that it felt like Razor is paying zero attention to how difficult it is for sub to bring that immediate impact, and as we saw with Aumua, how being on the field for 20-25 minutes was needed before you could really settle in and play your best.
I feel the French are like that too (because theyre no names to me), but sure, it’s a lot different if its RG Snyman you’re bring on.
Also in relation to your quote, I also don’t think he appreciates the influence of numbers, either in total, or more importantly in my mind, in conjunction together. I can’t remember once where the entire front row might have come on together, as a more attune unit with each other (not that NZ has developed the same consistency in selection with SA has benefitted from).
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