The Cheetahs are the first of the South African teams in action in the European Challenge Cup on Saturday when they travel to take on Zebre Parma.
Zebre v Cheetahs, Saturday 9th December, Parma, KO 15:00 (South African time)
Referee: Jack Makepeace (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Sara Cox (Eng), Gareth Holsgrove (Eng)
TMO: Dean Richards (Eng)
Weather Forecast - Parma
Zebre:
Zebre's pool fixtures comprise of this match followed by a visit to Oyonnax, a home game against the Dragons and a trip to Section Paloise. In the Challenge Cup last season Zebre lost all 4 of their pool matches, earning just 1 bonus point and they failed to make the knockout rounds.
Zebre have just returned from a United Rugby Championship tour of South Africa which saw them go down 61-19 to the Lions and most recently 31-7 to the Stormers. In earlier URC matches this season Zebre finished well beaten at home to the Bulls (54-29) but they edged out the Sharks 12-10 in another home game.
Cheetahs:
In this competition last season the Cheetahs made it to the Round of 16 where they put up a decent show in a 36-21 defeat to Toulon who went on to lift the trophy. The Cheetahs began with a 21-16 victory over Section Paloise in Pau and they edged out the same opposition 9-6 in the final round at this venue in Parma. Their two match ups with the Scarlets saw them go down 45-26 (also in Parma) and 20-17 in Wales.
After this game the Cheetahs will host the Sharks in a derby in Bloem, they will also host Section Paloise before their final pool match away to Oyonnax.
Team News
Zebre: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Franco Smith, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Jacopo Bianchi, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dave Sisi, 3 Juan-Manuel Pitinari, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Taina Fox-Matamua, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Jake Polledri
Cheetahs: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Siba Xamlashe, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Reinhardt Fortuin, 11 Cohen Jasper, 10 George Lourens, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Jeandrè Rudolph, 7 Friedle Olivier, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Laurence Victor, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Sibabalo Qoma, 22 Rewan Kruger, 23 Ali Mgijima
The Betting
Zebre -3.5 points at 9/10
Cheetahs +4.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Bookies must be nervous to price up the Challenge Cup and at 14h10 the day before the game there is no betting to be found. I will be back Saturday morning to put up a bet.
Update: 09 December 09h15
Less than 6 hours before kickoff and not a points line to be found.
The handicap looks well set to me and I am not going to get too involved here. The Cheetahs will have been targeting this game while Zebre have just come off a difficult URC run and I will have a nibble on the visitors to win.
Stay close to our forum thread for more bets
Bet: 2 units Cheetahs win at 1.59/1 (just under 16/10) at Boylesports*
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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