Parties with the Zebras: Christmas in Parma, New Year’s Eve in Monigo Coach Bortolami: “We are growing, the foundations are laid”
/ TREVISO
It begins with a brace in Monigo: 25 September and 2 October, again at 2 pm, Benetton will face off against the South Africans of the Stormers and Edinburgh. Closing still at home: on 21 May 2022 the Lions will host Cardiff. This is what the United Rugby Championship calendar released yesterday provides. Other important dates: the first away match is on matchday three, Friday 8 October in Belfast against Ulster at 8.35pm. The double tricolor derby against the Zebras is, as usual, placed in full Christmas holidays: first in Parma, on Christmas Eve at 2 pm, then at the same time in Monigo on January 2. To see the rematch of the Rainbow Cup final we will have to wait until April 23, when Benetton will go to Pretoria to deal with the Bulls. And in South Africa Benetton will stay there because a week later they will play in Johannesburg with the Lions, in the penultimate round.
The URC is attended by 16 teams (4 South African), divided into 4 groups. In total 18 regular season matches: 6 home and away against the members of their group (Treviso is together with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Zebre) and 12 at home or away against the others. Note the presence of the single ranking, which will avoid overlapping with the commitments of the national teams and consequently the exodus of players from the clubs. At the end of the regular the first eight will participate in the playoffs, with the advantage of the field based on their placement, that is, first against eighth, second against seventh and so on. The two teams that will play the final will come out of the quarter-finals and then the semifinals. In the next few days, Benetton will communicate information regarding the ticket office, on the basis of current government regulations.
In the meantime, the green-and-white team continues pre-season preparation at Ghirada: yesterday there was a joint training session with Calvisano. The two teams carried out the first phase of work by carrying out static scrum, touch and drive drills, while the backs made the first phase plays. In the second part, however, the two teams gave life to a match made up of two halves of 20 minutes each. «For us it was important to reconnect with the reality of the game – explains coach Marco Bortolami – in short, to resume the thread of real games. I think it was an excellent training, Calvisano gave us a hard time because he physically held up. We were able to make several rotations, we are lucky because at the moment there are many players available and everyone had the right mentality: a first step towards playing rugby that we needed ».
Are you still in the workload phase? “Yes, we are charging in a decisive way, at least for another week, even if we are moving towards a more structured rugby: the focus is shifting towards all the attacking and defensive organizations and I believe that the foundations have been laid. . Obviously we will continue to work from a physical point of view, I see the boys very involved both from the point of view of enthusiasm, and it is fundamental, but also in the learning process of our new game system ». –