Rizzi holds his nerve to edge it for Zebre

ANTONIO Rizzi’s two penalties in the last eight minutes helped Zebre secure victory in the Italian derby at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.

Trailing 18-16 with 20 minutes to play, Rizzi kept his nerve to slot the winning points and make it two wins on the spin after last weekend’s 24-15 victory in Treviso.

Zebre had not beaten their neighbours twice in the same season since the 2015/16 campaign but went into the half-time interval 8-6 up.

Benetton led 6-3 thanks to Paolo Garbisi’s two penalties, but Michelangelo Biondelli crossed the tryline shortly before the interval to put Zebre in front. A series of penalties allowed the hosts to pile the pressure on Benetton and clever play from Canna, who delayed his offload, allowed Biondelli to touch down.

Although the conversion was missed, Carlo Canna’s second penalty of the game plus Maxime Mbanda’s 52nd-minute try, following a good break from Guglielmo Palazzani, gave the hosts a 16-6 lead.

Benetton roared back just after the hour mark to set up a thrilling finale.

Gianmarco Lucchesi and Michele Lamaro touched down within three minutes of each other and Garbisi’s conversion of the latter meant Benetton held an 1816 lead with a quarter of an hour to go.

But former Benetton flyhalf Rizzi split the posts to hand Zebre the advantage before securing victory with another penalty three minutes from time.