United Rugby Championship: Zebre 23-18 Dragons - Italians claim rare win against undisciplined visitors

Zebre claimed their first win of the United Rugby Championship season against a weakened Dragons side at Stadio Lanfranchi.

A tight contest was decided by the sin-binnings of Jared Rosser and Sam Davies in quick succession.

Davies' offence saw a penalty try given, with Simone Gesi scoring the winning try with Dragons short-handed.

Zebre had led at half-time through Luca Bigi, but Dragons had threatened a win when Lewis Jones and Rosser crossed.

Dragons' only victory in any competition since early October was 38-27 at Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship earlier this month.

Zebre remain bottom of the URC with Dragons one place above them, but the rare win will have been a huge fillip as the Italian side had not won a game since beating the same opponents in Parma in February 2021.

Dragons were without injured Wales forwards Will Rowlands, Leon Brown, Elliot Dee and Aaron Wainwright for the trip.

But Wales back row Taine Basham returned at number eight, while lock Joe Davies was making his 100th appearance for the region.

Lock Dave Sisi returned to captain Zebre in their final home game of the season.

Dragons were the first to strike in the Parma sunshine when Davies potted an early penalty, but Zebre drew level through the boot of Rizzi after a series of forward rumbles.

Fly-half Davies and opposite number Rizzi exchanged further penalties, before an eye-catching break by Zebre full-back Junior Laloifi suggested a first try might be on the cards - only for a spilled pass to end the promising attack.

Back came the Italians and this time the Dragons line was breached as a driving maul allowed hooker Bigi to flop over for an unconverted try.

Dragons nearly replied in kind but some brave Italian defence saw the ball held up over the line.

Zebre lost playmaker Rizzi on the half-hour when his ankle twisted awkwardly in a tackle, with Tim O'Malley stepping up off the bench.

Dragons had a late penalty as the first half wound down and opted for an attacking line out, but the move came to nothing as Zebre were again sharper at the breakdown to conserve their 11-6 lead at the break.

Zebre's pack had given the home side an edge up front and only some fierce defence kept the Dragons' line intact early in the second half.

That proved vital as Dragons found a cutting edge in the shape of Rio Dyer, the wing scything through a previously water-tight Italian defence before finding replacement Jones on his outside shoulder.

Zebre's Jimmy Tuivaiti is brought down by Ben Fry of Dragons

Jones had replaced Jack Dixon at centre and showed good strength to twist over the line as he was tackled and dot down in the right corner to level.

Davies missed the difficult conversion but was given another chance from the other side soon after, as another slick backs move released wing Rosser for a converted try that put Dragons 18-11 ahead.

Zebre probably should have levelled within moments when O'Malley's break sent Enrico Lucchin racing for the line, but Jones produced a superb cover tactical to prevent the Italian centre grounding the ball.

With their noses in front, Dragons suffered a triple blow when Rosser was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle, before Davies followed him to the sin bin - with the fly-half's hand at the ruck deemed by referee Chris Busby to have denied Zebre a clear scoring opportunity and also being punished with a penalty try.

The numbers advantage finally told and Gesi squirted over in the left corner for an unconverted try to claim a rare victory.

Zebre: Junior Laloifi; Jacopo Trulla, Erich Cronje, Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi; Antonio Rizzi, Chris Cook; Danilp Fischetti, Luca Bigi, Ion Neculai, Dave Sisi (capt), Andrea Zambonin, Maxime Mbanda, Jimmy Tuivaiti, Taina Fox-Matamua.

Replacements: Giampietro Ribaldi, Paolo Buonfiglio, Eduardo Bello, Gabriele Venditti, Luca Andreani, Alessandro Fusco, Tim O'Malley, Michelangelo Biodelli.

Dragons: Jordan Williams, Rio Dyer, Adam Warren, Jack Dixon, Jared Rosser, Sam Davies, Rhodri Williams; Aki Seiuli, Taylor Davies, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Ben Carter, Harri Keddie (capt), Ben Fry, Taine Basham.

Replacements: James Benjamin, Josh Reynolds, Mesake Doge, Huw Taylor, Lennon Greggains, Lewis Jones, Will Reed, Josh Lewis.

Referee: Chris Busby (IRFU)

Assistants: Riccardo Angelucci & Dario Merli (FIR)

TMO: Stefano Roscini (FIR)