Italian side Zebre Parma produced the first earth-shuddering shock to this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship when they beat the Hollywoodbets Sharks 12-10 to end one of the longest losing streaks in club rugby history.
The victory was the first in 29 games for the Italian side - who last week took 54 points and let in 8 tries against the Bulls - and ended a losing streak that stretched back to April 2022.
And while it will be celebrated in Parma as one of their greatest victories in the short history of the club, it will go down as one of the worst Sharks’ performances on the field in professional history.
ZERO WINS
The Durban side will limp back to their homes with zero wins out of four games in this year’s championship, and while all were away from home, they would have pegged this game as a probable win given the history of the Italian side.
John Plumtree’s reign is still short, and they should be a better side back home, but it is hard after this performance to shake the thought that they looked like a rudderless side, without too many ideas and seemed caught between two styles.
Since their entry into the URC, the Sharks have struggled to get success on the field, despite a host of big name players and seem to be unable to win without their Springboks.
Either way there will be some tough talking when they get back to Durban as the performance would hardly have been in line with their own standards.
And yet, it was hard to fault the celebrations that broke out in Parma. Zebre have been the whipping boys for most of the tournament over the last few years.
They are a side that struggle to attract good players, but that always play with a lot of heart.
And this season they have been a lot better. They came close against Ospreys, drew with champions Munster but were blown off the park by the Bulls.
Their own fans would have expected a win to come sometime this season, but few would have expected it to come against a glamorous franchise such as the Sharks.
LOPSIDED PENALTY COUNT
It will be a victory that will go down in history and will become folklore in the local Parma rugby clubs, but it will forever be a night of shame for a Sharks side that simply never rose to the occasion.
The biggest telling stat on the night was the penalty count. But while the Sharks struggled to understand referee Peter Martin’s calls at times, he was direct and forthright and they failed to adapt.
They can also have no complaints about the red and yellow cards they were given in the game, reducing them to 14 men twice, with Hyron Andrews’ red card coming at a particularly crucial last part of the game.
The penalty count stood at 15-4 against the Sharks and while there may have been a few hometown calls, they will have to look at their own play as well in determining where it all went wrong.
There were a number of promising attacks that broke down with poor handling, poor options or just a lack of patience among a team that would normally be expected to do a lot better.
Add to that the 16 turnovers lost by the Sharks and it starts to tell a story of a night where they could do no right.
MISSING PLAYERS NO EXCUSE
Sharks fans will point to the long injury list they currently have, and how they lost playmaker Curwin Bosch in the week to concussion as well.
But both that and the absence of the Boks was not the reason they lost against the Italian side. It was more that despite scoring the opening try they never took control of the game, never controlled their discipline and struggled to get the upper hand.
Given the way they started, and the perfect flow of hands to get the ball to the wing where Dylan Richardson set up the opening try for Cameron Wright with a flat inside pass, it seemed they may have wanted to emulate the Bulls’ scoreline.
But that highlight was one of the few. Instead they got locked into an arm wrestle with a side that was so desperate to win that they were going to take any opportunity offered to them.
And while they went into the break 10-6 up, you never got the feeling they had control of the game.
Zebre plugged away and every sinkable shot they got they took it.
CARDS MADE A DIFFERENCE
They were helped by an unfortunate card for Aphelele Fassi, who dipped for the tackle the same time Zebre scrumhalf Gonzalo Garcia did, leading to an inevitable clash of heads.
But while he was off the field, Zebre took the lead as the game started to wind down.
And with the Sharks desperate to try and get back, Hyron Andrews, assisted by George Cronje, flipped replacement prop Muhamed Hasa, landing him on his head, and leading to an automatic red card for Andrews.
The big lock may have some mitigation in the post match disciplinary in that he wasn’t alone, but the red card, in the 77th minute, was the worst thing that could happen to the Sharks.
From there Zebre kicked downfield and held the ball for the remaining three minutes, until they got the chance to boot it into touch and start the celebrations.
Scorers
Zebre Parma - penalties: Geronimo Prisciantelli (3), Jacopo Trulla.
Hollywoodbets Sharks - try: Cameron Wright. Conversion: Boeta Chamberlain. Penalty: Chamberlain.