Zebre technical director Christian Gajan maintains their encouraging pre-season will have no bearing when they make their RaboDirect PRO12 debut against Newport-Gwent Dragons on Friday night.

New boys Zebre beat French side Aurillac as well as last year’s Heineken Cup runners up Northampton Saints but lost away to Top 14 side Perpignan as they prepared for their inaugural first season.

But Gajan insists the challenge now facing his team this year is monumental and those results offer him little or no indicator of how his troops will cope with their 22 RaboDirect PRO12 games.

Although Gajan and head coach Roberto Manghi can count on upcoming Italian talent like Giovanbattista Venditti, Tito Tebaldi and Roberto Quartaroli for their tournament bow at Rodney Parade, they will be without injured stalwarts Marco Bortolami and Mauro Bergamasco.

“Now we are about to enter into live competition,” said Frenchman Gajan.“The friendlies have given us some good signs about where we are going but I don’t want to make any predications. It will be the performance on the pitch which speaks.

“We will aim to do our absolute best in the knowledge that we are confronted with a championship and cup (the Heineken Cup) which are extremely difficult every week as some of the best clubs in Europe and the world play in them.”

In Bortolami’s absence, 25-year-old centre Gonzalo Garcia will captain the team while Samoan speedster Sinoti Sinoti takes up the full-back berth.

The Dragons finished ninth last season but have since lost star players such as Martyn Thomas, Aled Brew, Jason Tovey and Luke Charteris who have all headed for pastures new.

Young talent has arrived in the form of 23-year-old full-back Dan Evans and 20-year-old international wing Tom Prydie while former Cornish Pirates second-row Ian Nimmo also makes his competitive debut for the club.

Behind him in the back row are Wales stars Dan Lydiate and Toby Faletau but head coach Darren Edwards admits there is still a significant disparity between the two sides in terms of international experience.

“Zebre is a team with more internationals than the Dragons and a great deal of experience in the side,” said Edwards.

“They have a very good support structure around them and are heavily supported by the Italian Federation so they are definitely a stronger side than many would give them credit for.

“Playing the unknown does cause problems but it also enables us to focus on ourselves and our own game.

“It’s what we’ve done through this pre-season – especially leading into the London Irish game (which the Dragons won 18-12) – we didn’t know how they would play but we focused on our own game and produced a strong performance and a great result.”

At Rodney Parade, 7pm.
Referee: George Clancy ( IRFU, 48th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Neil Hennessy, Jason Langdon (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Ray Wilton (WRU)