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Italian side Zebre and South African outfit Cheetahs will square off in the 7th round of the Guinness Pro 14, the competition which features teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and since this year from South Africa as well.
As one of the two Italian teams in the Pro 14, Zebre have been traditionally a laughingstock in the competition, finishing dead last in 4 of the 5 seasons since joining the league – including a horrible season last year, when they won just 3 out of 22 games. Nevertheless, the hosts had a better start this season and have already won 2 out of 6 games – most impressively a 27-23 home victory over the strong Irish side Ulster two rounds ago.
With the Pro 14 deciding to include two South African sides starting with this season, the Cheetahs decided to make the move from Super Rugby to the Pro 14 and so far they have made a good account of themselves. They had a shaky start and needed some time to get used to the competition in the first two rounds, but the Cheetahs now won 3 of their last 4 games and played the most entertaining rugby in the entire Pro 14. Last time out they lost by 3 points at home against the excellent Glasgow Warriors, who needed two late tries to squeak by.
Bet on Zebre vs. Cheetahs and claim your 100% (100 Eur) freebet at Ohmbet now!Team news & lineups:
Neither team has reported any new important injuries. Cheetahs will get back playmaker Fred Zeilinga who has been unavailable so far this season, he will start from the bench but should feature in the second half.
Zebre: 1 Sami Panico, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 3 Eduardo Bello, 4 Leonard Krumow, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 6 Giovanni Licata, 7 Johan Meyer, 8 Derick Minnie, 9 Marcello Violi, 10 Carlo Canna, 11 Mattia Bellini, 12 Tommaso Castello (c), 13 Tommaso Boni, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 15 Matteo Minozzi,
Cheetahs: 15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Francois Venter (c), 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Makazola Mapimpi, 10 Ernst Stapelberg, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Oupa Mohoje, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche
The Cheetahs have really come into themselves after struggling early, and the level of rugby they played in the previous 4 rounds was really high. Leaving aside the narrow loss to the mighty Glasgow Warriors, they managed to demolish title favorites Leinster (by 19), Ospreys (by 19) and even today`s opponents Zebre (by 15).
The Cheetahs clearly dominated the recent meeting with Zebre back in September and the 15 point win didn`t quite do them justice, as they should have probably won by 20+ points.
The Italians have made a good account for themselves considering the low expectations and the win over Ulster two rounds ago was indeed brilliant. They played well in their last three matches and could have even won in Edinburgh last round (15-16), although Edinburgh has really been dirt poor this season.
But despite the recent improvement, fact is that Zebre remains one of the worst two sides in the competition, and they actually seem to have lost their momentum in the last two weeks, when the Pro 14 had a break and Zebre competed in the Challenge Cup. They lost both games against French sides, getting destroyed by Agen (lost by 35 away) and also losing at home to Pau (by 5).
The Cheetahs are in excellent form lately and are definitely the better side here. They have some top South African talent in their ranks including four Springboks and should take care of a Zebre team that overperformed recently in the PRO 14, but looked rather poor in the last two weeks in the Challenge Cup.
It`s definitely worth noting that the Cheetahs haven`t won away from home yet in the competition (from 2 tries), and their recent victories all came at home. However, the visitors haven`t played since October 6th so they had time to prepare and travel to Italy early. They should be just fine physically, and after getting used to the competition I believe they will be able to fully translate their home form on the road.
Expect a fast paced game of rugby, with both teams looking to play with ball in hand, but in the end the visitors should have too much for Zebre. My tip is Cheetahs to win, I can see them taking this by about 7-12 points. Prediction: Zebre – Cheetahs 28 – 39.
Pick: Cheetahs
Odds: 1.61
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 4.88
Event date: 28 October
