Zebre Parma produced successive shock victories on the road in the United Rugby Championship (URC) as they saw off Edinburgh 22-17 at Hive Stadium on Friday night.
The Italian outfit’s last match in the competition was a trip to Ulster where they came out on top in a stunning 15-14 win and they have now doubled down in Scotland.
Jacopo Trulla, Gonzalo Garcia and Tommaso Di Bartolomeo tries were added to by two conversions and a penalty from Giacomo Da Re on a famous night for the team.
The result moves them up to 13th in the URC standings ahead of their basement rivals’ games this weekend, as they now sit above the Lions, Connacht and the Dragons.
For Edinburgh this defeat is a devastating blow to their knockout hopes as they would have been banking on at least four points against one of the league’s strugglers.
However, Zebre Parma have proven no mugs this term and have now beaten Munster, Ospreys, Ulster and Edinburgh in an improved effort from the 2023/24 season.
Edinburgh’s tries came from Ross McCann, Mosese Tuipulotu and Luke Crosbie as they remain in eighth position, missing the chance to put heat on those above them.
This was Edinburgh’s first loss to Zebre since 2016 and what will sting further is that they played against 13 players in the final stages after a sending off and sin-binning.
Edinburgh will be eager to bounce back next weekend when they head to play-off rivals Munster while Zebre Parma host Dragons in a game they will enter as favourites.
The teams
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Ross McCann, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Tom Currie, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Luke Crosbie (c), 5 Glen Young, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Boan Venter
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 James Lang
Zebre Parma: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Scott Gregory, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Gonzalo Garcia, 8 Giacomo Licata, 7 Bautista Stavile, 6 Luca Andreani, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Matteo Canali, 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Luca Bigi (c), 1 Paolo Buonfiglio
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Guido Volpi, 20 Giacomo Ferrari, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Giovanni Montemauri, 23 Luca Morisi
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Ian Kenny (SRU), Chelsea Gillespie (SRU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/13-man-zebre-parma-stun-edinburgh-to-go-back-to-back-on-the-road
