RECAP: Zebre v Lions

READERS' FORUM: Welcome to our live coverage of the United Rugby Championship Round One encounter between Zebre and the Lions in Parma.

It is the start of a new era for the game - the first Trans-Hemisphere competitions and the excitement is palpable.

It should be a cracker!

* To read our pre-match predictions, CLICK HERE!

* Our live blog will appear below, it might take a little while to load, please be patient. We apologise for the inconvenience!

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The teams:

Zebre: 15 Junior Laloifi, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Giulio Bisegni (captain), 12 Tommaso Boni, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Maxime Mbandà, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 David Sisi, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Danilo Fischetti.

Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Andrea Zambonin, 20 Giovanni Licata, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Jacopo Trulla.

Lions: 15 EW Viljoen, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Ruan Dreyer.

Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Eddie Fouche, 23 Divan Rossouw.

Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Riccardo Angelucci (Italy), Federico Boraso (Italy)

TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)