Rugby championships, Veneto always dominates
Final act of the Serie A Élite in Parma, on a neutral pitch, in front of a sold-out 5,000 spectators
4' min read
4' min read
It is beautiful (also) because it is strange, sport. Disrespectful of values and predictions, when it happens. And sometimes, though to a lesser extent than in other disciplines, it also happens in rugby.
Viadana had led the regular season of the Serie A Élite, the umpteenth denomination of the top oval championship, with a certain tranquillity, finishing it as league leader. In the final they found one of the most emblazoned teams, Rovigo. That same Rovigo, however, which - less than two months earlier - the team from the province of Mantua had beaten with an 'embarrassing' score: 62-34.
Final act of the tournament in Parma, on a neutral pitch, in front of a sold-out 5,000 spectators. In the first half Viadana clearly dominated, with the opposing team almost always under pressure, suffering beyond measure in lineouts, suffering a couple of temporary expulsions and seeming to come close to the technical knockout, taking three converted tries in the space of seven minutes, just before the half-hour mark.
The Lombardi had it easy, third-row Locatelli was an iradidio, opening halfback Roger Farias built, converted tries and even scored one himself. And patience, thought the Gialloneri supporters, for the first score of the match, basically given to Rovigo: the Venetian team, put under pressure, had found an interception with the excellent captain Diederich Ferrario and set up a counter-attack that, even with a bit of good luck, had brought Matteo Moscardi over the goal line. On 7-21, at the last minute of the first fraction, the red-blue Polesani got a penalty from a rare sortie in attack and were careful not to look for the big target: the three points signed by the kicker Thomson were enough to lift a little the morale.
Then the second half began, and the game changed completely. Davide Giazzon, coach of the Veneto team, progressively injected experience in the scrum from the bench, with the various Swanepoel, Ferro, Casado Sandri, Sironi. Viadana lacked lucidity and brilliance: also due to some forced changes, the boys coached by Gilberto Pavan lost control of the match and ended up not scoring a single point.
