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Zebre heap more misery on the Kings, Cardiff get off the mark
By Peter Thompson
The Southern Kings' miserable start to life in the Pro14 took another turn for the worse when they suffered a heavy 43-17 home loss to Zebre, while there were wins for Cardiff Blues and Scarlets on Saturday.
Zebre and the Kings had both lost all three matches before the clash at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and it was the Italian side that kick-started their season with a bonus-point victory.
Early tries from Tommaso Castello and Mattia Bellini set the tone before Renato Giammarioli scored a third midway through the first half for the Parma-based side, who went in at the break with a 22-3 lead.
Tommaso Boni added another following a well executed line-out, but the Kings Were back in at 29-17 following converted scores from Godlen Masimla and Luvuyo Pupuma.
Zebre were not to be denied a first win of the campaign, though, Giulio Bisegni and Jacopo Sarto crossing the whitewash to compound another miserable day for the newcomers.
Cardiff also ended their wait for a first triumph, with Willis Halaholo scoring two tries in a dramatic 17-15 success at Connacht.
Shane Delahunt's try six minutes from time looked to have won it for Connacht at the Sportsground, but Halaholo's second of the game brought the Blues level and Jarrod Evans converted expertly to snatch the victory with time running out.
Scarlets are second in Conference B after Gareth Davies scored one try and laid on another in a 28-8 bonus-point win over Edinburgh, who had Michele Rizzo for dangerous play at a ruck.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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