Zebre closed the gap on Benetton Treviso at the foot of the GUINNESS PRO12 table thanks to a narrow 23-17 victory over Newport Gwent Dragons in Italy.

The hosts edged in front on the stroke of half-time with Mirco Bergamasco adding two penalties to Jacapo Sarto’s try, after T. Rhys Thomas had put the Dragons in front.

And after Nic Cudd and Matteo Pratichetti exchanged early second-half scores, Tom Prydie missed key penalties for the visitors who remain without successive away wins since March 2012.

The hosts began well and roared on by the home crowd piled the pressure on at the Stadio Lanfranchi, building the phases well and working their way up the pitch to win a 5-metre scrum.

And when the Dragons were penalised for hauling it down, Bergamasco made no mistake from the tee to open the scoring with eight minutes played.

The Italians – missing ten internationals for the clash – regained possession again before the Dragons were pinged for offside.

But Bergamasco was wide of the mark this time, and Zebre were soon regretting not making the most of bossing the early exchanges when Newport went over twice in quick succession.

The visitors sparked into life when Zebre knocked on in the midfield and Geraint Rhys Jones was able to kick into the corner, before Thomas charged his way over after 18 minutes to put the visitors back in front, although Prydie missed the conversion.

But Prydie made amends just three minutes later after the Dragons regained possession, and after a lovely interchange with Jack Dixon the latter was able to touch down in the corner to make it 10-3, the try awarded via the TMO.

Zebre looked for a response, and powered their way up the field only to be forced out of play by the resilient Dragons just metres from the try-line, before the hosts were penalised and the Dragons could clear.

But Zebre came back again with Sarto the man to find a hole in the Dragons’ defence on 28 minutes to charge across the whitewash in the right corner, Bergamasco striking a fine conversion through the uprights to level the scores.

A very scrappy 10 minutes followed, both sides conceding a host of penalties preventing either from progressing up the pitch, but eventually Rhys Jones saw yellow for tackling his man in the air and the visitors ended the half with 14-men.

And Zebre made their advantage count as Bergamasco put them back in front on the stroke of half-time when the Dragons were penalised at the breakdown.

But the teams were on level terms not long after the break when Agustin Cavalieri was sin-binned himself for a dangerous tackle, and Newport were able to kick into the corner for Cudd to score in the 43^rd minute.

Prydie was this time successful with his conversion and the Dragons edged 17-13 in front, but the lead was short lived as just three minutes later Zebre had crossed again.

It was end to end stuff and Pratichetti found space and darted through for Zebre to retake the lead.
With both teams back to 15 men, Newport threw everything at their hosts as they searched for a try to move back in front.

And after 15 minutes camped in the Zebre 22, the Dragons finally got their chance to level the scores twice through Prydie penalties.

But the winger was again off-colour from the tee, his third and fourth misses of the evening keeping the score at 20-17 going into the final minutes.

To add insult to injury Bergamasco hit his fifth successful kick of the evening through the posts on 79 minutes to secure the victory. after the Dragons were pinged again for bringing down a scrum.

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