Andrea de Rossi wants Zebre to show the same mental strength in their return fixture against Benetton Treviso on Sunday. Dries van Schalkwyk’s last-gasp try gave Zebre a narrow win over their Italian rivals when the teams met in Parma last week, as De Rossi’s side built on a promising start to the season. However the Zebre boss is well aware that Treviso will be out for revenge and is taking nothing for granted ahead of the game at the Stadio Monigo, where Zebre are hoping to win three games in a row for the first time in their history. “We arrive at this game with a lot of mental strength, which we showed in the last minutes of the game in Parma where we didn’t fold and we believed until the end with the help of a great support,” said De Rossi. “It’s an element we hope we can repeat every time. We are confident but aware that it will be a difficult challenge against a wounded side. When you face games like this you need a lot of mental strength as well as the technical aspects. “We have made a few changes as per usual and I am very happy to have (Jean) Cook back, who will give us depth in the back row which is already very good. Thanks to the two wins we’ve been able to enjoy the holidays for the first time.” Zebre have made just two changes from the team that won 28-25 last weekend, with Guglielmo Palazzani and Ulrich Beyers coming in for Mils Muliaina and Giulio Bisegni respectively. Cook also returns from injury to take his place on the bench. For Treviso, who have now lost 21 in a row in all competitions, Umberto Casellato has made four changes and one extra positional switch as his team look for a first win of the season. There is a new centre partnership featuring Enrico Bacchin and Alberto Sgarbi, with Sam Christie dropping to the bench and Tommaso Iannone shifting out to the wing. Chris Smylie comes in for the injured Edoardo Gori at scrum-half while Ornel Gega, a try-scorer last week, replaces Davide Giazzon at hooker.
