Benetton Rugby, Simone Ferrari finds two keys to derby win
Recharged by two Challenge Cup successes in a row, Benetton Rugby is back to thinking about the league and the URC’URC. The first of two Christmas derbies against Zebre Parma is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Monigo. “We end this first part of the Challenge Cup with two very important victories, which give the group a lot of confidence, especially in anticipation of the derbies ahead – said Simone Ferrari -. They were two very important games, the first an away win in South Africa against the Lions and the second came last weekend at home against Perpignan, a win that was not a foregone conclusion”.
“We will definitely have to change the’attitude at the mental level – added the 31-year-old right pylon of the green-and-white team to the microphones of BenTV -. The first games we have are the two derbies, so we will not need additional motivation to face them. They are very important matches for both us and them, they will be very close games, because this year I think Zebre have shown a very positive progression in the level of play. We will definitely have to be careful and focused on these two games. They are two challenges that we definitely feel are different from the others”.
“We are playing against guys we see in the national team during the Six Nations or other international windows. We know well the players who are there and the qualities they have. But I think we will have to stay focused on our work – pointed out one of the Lions’ symbols -The first one will be a home game in Monigo, in front of our fans (scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 27 at 3 p.m., ed.). It will be important to give a special day to our fans, then we will go to Parma (set for Saturday, December 27 at 15:30 at Stadio Lanfranchi, ed) to make another great performance”.
“The two matches we played in the Challenge Cup helped us see some points to improve. From the home match against Perpignan we realized that we need to fix the restarts and in the crucial moments of the match stay tougher, especially ball in hand”.
“Against the Zebras it will be a battle, particularly in the breakdown, where they have players who are really skilled at making the opponent’s attack difficult. It will be important for us to focus on the basics of our game. The static phases we know will be very important: scrums, drives and touches. They are very dangerous in drives and we will have to prepare well during the week” concluded Ferrari.
