The Lions are back, Glasgow Pandemic overtaking operation in South Africa, eight games postponed

Delicate moment of the green-and-white season: more balance is needed between forwards and backs. Field loosened by the rain

TREVISO

After a month of waiting, the Lions are back.

The URC is back on the scene, but it immediately finds itself in its hand a nice hot potato, the worrying situation of the pandemic in South Africa to say the least: we will talk about it shortly. Meanwhile, today the spotlight is naturally on Monigo: Benetton returns with the best intentions to return to winning after three rounds, actually negative more for the result than for the game.

But since then a lot of water has passed under the bridges on the Sile: if you want to climb the ranking today you cannot fail.

Glasgow, in the same territorial group, has three points more, 15 against 12, today’s one is therefore called the “overtaking operation”: it can be a key moment of the green-and-white season.

In this month of stop for the blue cause Treviso has certainly given a lot, now it is a question of managing the energies of the troop: of the 23 a dozen have returned from tests in the national team, others come from the National A but the most used ones have been granted a ‘ another week off. Marco Bortolami and staff made their choices with good reason, including the confirmations of Halafihi’s seasonal debut and Marin’s one as owner, given that Albornoz has scrambled. Another probable debut is that of scrum half Alessandro Garbisi, younger brother of the better known Paolo. Interesting is the inclusion of the young Menoncello, who is usually used on the wing, in the center of the trocar alongside Morisi, on the wings, on the other hand, Ioane, the unprecedented Tavuyara-Padovani couple, is absent.

The coach has recently explained the three essential points at the level of play that he intends to develop starting from this match: the management of the game at the foot from his own half, entrusted more to the opening half than to the scrum; the defense in the first phase, to be implemented more with the connection between players than with a climb at all costs; the attack in the 22 opponents: we need more balance between forward and back. Of course, everything will have to be checked on a loose field. Regarding the previous ones, there are so far 4 successes for the Treviso players and 15 for the Scots.

PANDEMIC. The URC, for the new wave of Covid 19 in South Africa, has postponed the games that should have been played in this and next weekend: for the sixth round it is Stormers-Zebre, Lions-Cardiff, Sharks-Scarlets and Bulls-Munster; for the seventh of Bulls-Scarlets, Sharks-Zebre, Lions-Munster and Stormer-Cardiff. Apart from the Zebras, the Anglo-Saxon teams, given the closure of UK airports for flights from the African country, will have the problem of returning home. The URC says it “will continue to engage with the Medical Advisory Group and their respective governments: an evaluation period will now be needed to better understand the impact of the new restrictions and how to reschedule these races by the current season.” –

Silvano Focarelli