Everything is ready for a possible appointment with history. Tomorrow Benetton Rugby will be looking for its first European final, that of the Challenge Cup, the rugby equivalent of football’s Europa League. At 4pm Italian time, the green and whites will face the English side Gloucester in a straight match, at the Kingsholm Stadium in the city on the Severn. For the Treviso coach, Marco Bortolami, the challenge will have an even more special flavour: as a player he wore the Gloucester shirt from 2006 to 2010, becoming the captain in the 2007/2008 season.
“Playing against Gloucester will be something special for me – says Bortolami -, also because we will be protagonists in a magical place for rugby, Kingsholm. Now, however, for me there is Benetton: we are excited and enthusiastic, this is where we wanted to get to this point of the season, trying to accomplish something historic in the Challenge Cup.”
Gloucester is a club that has great traditions at home, even if it is currently in penultimate place in the Premiership. For Treviso, who won their group in the first phase, pool 2 with Ospreys, Montpellier, Perpignan and Newcastle, will be the third direct elimination round after the victories against the South African Emirates Lions and the Irish Connacht.
Tomorrow in the XV captained by Michele Lamaro, who in the third row will be one of the two flankers together with Sebastian Negri and number 8 Toa Halafihi, will see the widened triangle made up of Rhyno Smith at fullback and Ignacio Mendy and Onisi Ratave at the wings, while at the center there will be the pair formed by Tommaso Menoncello and Ignacio Brex, in a attacking midfield led by Alessandro Garbisi and Tomas Albornoz.
As for the other Challenge semi-final, the South African Sharks of Durban and the French of Clermont will face each other.
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