Parma

I like Parma, probably because they have their own fully professional rugby team and the city is on a scale I can identify with. I had to inform my wife that the road sign indicating in which direction a sports stadium lay, would not be a rugby ground. No doubt the place they play rugby would be in the opposite direction and I was right.

The train from Milan to Parma revealed more industry and so we were heading toward larger population centres clustered together. On the previous journey from Venice to Milan, we had seen shipbuilding near Venice (those large cruise ships, two under construction in fact), and then large quarries, one with large blocks of dimensional stone that had been cut recently, very impressive but for most of the time we saw only farmland and farm buildings.

Once again we could see rugby pitches as well as soccer and handball plus a few athletic tracks but not many of the latter. Then arriving in Parma we discovered not to trust Google directions too much. Turns out the hotel we wanted to find was directly over the road from the station main entrance, but Google had us going in the opposite direction and turning several corners to arrive at a place clearly visible....oh it's over there. This sort of thing happened a lot and I concluded that Google can be used as a general indication and is no better than that. For instance in Venice it put the dot on the wrong building completely.

Anyway did I say there is a lot to like about Parma? We grabbed a quick snack from a local shop that was very cheap and frequented by the locals:

Wandered the streets:

Checked out some culture:

Then on the day of the game we saw a marching band playing during some religious festival. Good to see this as New Zealand bands are just about extinct now:

Then we walked to the game between the Zebre and Cheetahs in the Pro14. The Zebre represent the local region and are the bottom team in Conference A, while the Cheetahs are from South Africa and sit just above them. So this wasn't going to be a display of outstanding skill but we enjoyed the day nonetheless.

The stadium the Zebre play at is called Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, it's small with a capacity of about 5,000 but it's quite a nice place, well laid out and sits nicely to the sun. Why oh why has New Zealand gone to night games to keep the TV audience happy, in winter mid afternoon rugby games on a Sunday are the ideal times to play. The sun is almost always out. This day was no exception.

Without the help of Google, we found the place all right. Tickets weren't expensive but they didn't sell game day programmes. Ouch, we were told that's a Kiwi thing. Well yes, I need to know who the players are in each position. Therefore I was left guessing who each player was. Programmes are also a useful fundraiser and allow local businesses to promote themselves.

We were seated in the sunny stand and watched the warm-ups, which to us looked more like practise. The South Africans got their playing shorts muddy doing this, and when the game started all they'd done is change their shirts, they started the game with those same muddy shorts. What? Warm-ups are warm-ups, when do you guys practise and do you have no self-respect? Starting a game at kick-off muddy from the warm-up is naff if you ask me.

The result doesn't tell the whole story. The score was Cheetahs 27, Zebre 12. In fact the score should have been more in the Cheetahs favour as they completely dominated the second half. What kept the game close is the annoying pursuit of bonus points. The Cheetahs were going for tries and did not attempt penalty kicks which would have made the game safe. This is meant to be entertaining but I find it tiresome.

Then the pitch itself has a slight grade toward the right hand side as we look at it in the pictures which follow. Most points were scored at that end and all play tended to go in that direction. They really need to address this, the roll of the ball is biased to the administration end.

Then finally, the role of imported players needs addressing. With 15 men on the field imports cannot have as much impact as they do with basketball. New Zealand-born forward Jimmy Tuivaiti (North Harbour) was playing for the Zebre but he also played in the centres and at fullback. He was all over the place and is your basic highly skilled New Zealand player (he currently makes himself available for Italy). Italy have got to develop their own players to this level. My guess is they struggle to do that as other sports, notably soccer, get first look at anyone showing athletic potential. They've got the facilities, now they have to find ways of keeping the players.

Anyhoo, the game was like this in pics, the teams run on, Cheetahs in white are first out:

Followed by the Zebre in black:

The game gets started:

There are lineouts (most play heads to this side of the field and to the right as this is the slope - note):

Cheetahs score and convert against the slope of the ground:

There are more lineouts and such (spot the ball in this image):

And Jimmy Tuivaiti is everywhere for the Zebre, he's the guy in black with number 8 on his back, foreground and to the right:

The Zebre have enthusiastic supporters who cheer every effort, about 2,000 at the game, along with annoying drummers which reminded us of the Warriors in Auckland (League team, different code):

And then we had gelato on the way back to the hotel. An enjoyable day:

Why did the Zebre lose? Well, they had structure but not a vast wealth of individual talent. They're good players but the South Africans had the extra edge. Also, I noticed during the game that the Zebre backs started to argue amongst one another. That's not a good sign. The South Africans kept their discipline.