Treviso secured their second GUINNESS PRO12 win of the season and completed a league double over Italian rivals Zebre with a 17-15 victory at Stadio Monigo. Having secured their first victory of the campaign with a 26-16 triumph in Parma last weekend, Treviso made it two wins from two – and five in total against Zebre – thanks to tries from Michele Campagnaro and Edoardo Gori to move off the bottom of the league table at the expense of their fierce rivals. Treviso boss Umberto Casellato made several changes to the side that won last weekend – with Angelo Esposito, D’Arcy Rae and Simone Favaro all returning – and his rotation proved inspired as the hosts pressed right from the off and should have taken an early lead through Jayden Hayward, but his penalty after eight minutes was wayward. That miss allowed Zebre to move ahead and Edoardo Padovani gave his side an early 0-3 advantage by kicking over an 11th minute penalty. But just as the visitors were threatening to click into gear, Hayward made amends for his error by bringing the scores level from the boot two minutes later. And the home side soon took control of the match when Italian international centre Campagnaro burst through the Zebre defence before crashing over the whitewash for a try, much to the delight of the home faithful. Hayward then added the extras to make it 10-3 on 23 minutes. Zebre, who were playing with former Treviso players Mauro Bergamasco, Giulio Toniolatti and Tommaso Iannone in their side, were desperate to seek revenge for the defeat in Parma and pushed on in search of a reply but were unable to break through the home side’s resilient backline. After the break, Treviso were dealt a blow as Rae, Matteo Muccignat, and Enrico Bacchin were all shown the yellow card. And the away side took advantage as Quintin Geldenhuys evaded the Treviso defenders to dot down on 69 minutes and pull within two points at 10-8, but fly-half Kelly Haimona was unable to level the scores with his conversion attempt. One last push from the hosts saw Gori cross the line for the hosts on 71 minutes and Hayward added the extras to make it 17-8 and send the Stadio Manigo fans into raptures. Haimona could have reduced the deficit with a penalty for Zebre but his effort was off target before Toniolatti was shown a yellow card. With time winding down the visitors set up a dramatic finish as Brendon Leonard crossed for a late Zebre try and Haimona kicked over to make it 17-15. But it proved to be too little too late as Treviso held on to secure their first home win of the GUINNESS PRO12 season and climb above Zebre into eleventh in the league table. Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12
