Brodie brace but Zebre fightback
Hooker Brodie Coghlan grabbed a try brace but in-form Zebre battled back to edge out Dragons 31-21 in a tightly contested BKT United Rugby Championship clash Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Italy.
Coghlan crashed over twice in the first half while a try from Joe Westwood saw the Men of Gwent take a 21-7 lead in Parma.
But two tries either side of half-time saw the Italians roar back and a score from dangerman Fetuli Paea settled the contest.
A late penalty ensured Filo Tiatia’s men left empty-handed and without a win at Zebre since 2019.
Tiatia made changes for the encounter with Ashton Hewitt returning for his first senior game in 14 months while Taine Basham, Will Reed, Joe Westwood and Brodie Coghlan were called up.
Dragons – already without 19 players due to injury and international call-ups - were also forced into a late change as Rhodri Jones withdrew and Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths was handed a first club start and Owain James moved onto the bench.
Obstruction from the kick-off gave Dragons an early kick at goal, but Reed saw his kick inside two minutes drift wide left.
A first scrum sae Dragons win a free kick and they looked to attack at pace with Shane Lewis-Hughes, Coghlan and Westwood smashing into contact.
The away side looked to go wide left, after a strong run from Basham, but a pass was picked off and Zebre looked to go from deep and start to offload.
Spilled ball was mopped up by Reed and he produced a drilled 50:22 as Dragons continued to dominate territory and possession in the opening exchanges.
A penalty for not releasing saw Dragons kick to the corner and turn to the driving maul, and it paid off as Basham fed Coghlan who burrowed over and Reed converted.
The Italians looked to bounce back immediately, as they won a penalty and kicked to the corner with home Number Eight Giovanni Licata crashing over. Giacomo Da Re added the extras.
A series of penalties gave Zebre field position at the midpoint of the half, but spilled ball saw Hewitt and Anderson link up down the left wing before the home side regrouped.
Hewitt was looking elusive on his return with his footwork out wide while Coghlan produced some fantastic play to win a penalty on the floor.
The hooker then duly completed his double as a lineout move saw Coleman just held short before Coghlan drove over again and Reed converted for a 14-7 lead.
Zebre broke form deep with Paea breaking and feeding Garcia, but Reed swooped at the breakdown to win much needed penalty.
A third away try arrived following a simply sublime break from full back Anderson as he tore to the line and cut free before showing great awareness to feed Westwood to finish under pressure.
Bautista Stavile struck on the stroke of half-time as he spotted a gap and burst through to cut the lead to 21-14.
And seconds after the restart a linebreak from Rusiate Nasove saw him dragged down short before Geronimo Prisciantelli danced his way over to level the scores two minutes after the break.
Dragons needed a foothold and response and a penalty allowed Reed to kick to the corner. But the home side repelled the attack with freshness from the bench.
Garcia made a break but butchered an overlap and Owen mopped up to break form deep and start another attack.
Langton-Cryer replaced a limping Basham as Dragons stopped a driving maul with Shane Lewis-Hughes stopped the home surge before George Nott stole a lineout to again halt Zebre.
A high tackle gave Zebre more momentum and ball was worked in field for Paea to scoring under the posts after not being held in the tackle, with Da Re added the extras for the lead for the first time.
Dragons finally earned some territory as the game entered the final quarter and when Alessandro Fusco was yellow carded for cynical play the visitors faced 14 men for the final ten minutes.
Harri Ford and Owain James were late replacements to make their debuts, but there was no way back and a late penalty from Da Re saw the visitors leave empty-handed.
Timeline:
13m Coghlan t Reed c 0-7
16m Licata t Da Re c 7-7
26m Coghlan t Reed c 7-14
31m Westwood t Reed c 7-21
40m Stavile t Da Re c 14-21
42m Prisciantelli t Da Re c 21-21
60m Paea t Da Re c 28-21
79m Da Re p 31-21
Zebre Parma: Geronimo Prisciantelli, Scott Gregory, Fetuli Paea, Damiano Mazza, Simone Gesi, Giacomo Da Re, Gonzalo Garcia, Muhamed Hasa, Luca Bigi, Ion Neculai, Rusiate Nasove, Leonard Krumov, Giacomo Ferrari, Bautista Stavile, Giovanni Licata
Replacements: Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Luca Rizzoli, Juan Pitinari, Matteo Canali, Davide Ruggeri, Alessandro Fusco, Giovanni Montemauri, Jacopo Trulla
Dragons RFC: Huw Anderson, Rio Dyer, Joe Westwood, Aneurin Owen, Ashton Hewitt (Williams 71), Will Reed (Ford 75), Dane Blacker (Hope 61); Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths (James 78), Brodie Coghlan (Benjamin 65), Chris Coleman (Latu 65), Joe Davies (Cummins 58), George Nott, Ryan Woodman, Taine Basham (Langton-Cryer 50), Shane Lewis-Hughes
Replacements: James Benjamin, Owain James, Paula Latu, Steve Cummins, Barny Langton-Cryer, Che Hope, Harri Ford, Scott Williams
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU, 26th game)
Attendance: 2,348
