Zebre captain Marco Bortolami admits he's switching his attention to Italy's summer challenge after bringing the curtain down on his RaboDirect PRO12 campaign.

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has revealed that the selection of ten Zebre players for the Azzurri's summer tour of South Africa is a reward for a season in which the results did not reflect the performances on the field.

Zebre flanker Mauro Bergamasco insists he will keeping fighting to break back into the national set-up after completing a relatively injury-free RaboDirect PRO12 season.

Zebre skipper Marco Bortolami admits it was tough to see his side complete a winless RaboDirect PRO12 season after the latest narrow defeat - this time at the hands of Munster.

Six of the 24 British & Irish Lions selected by Warren Gatland to tour Hong Kong and Australia later this month have earned places in the 2013 RaboDirect PRO12 Dream Team.

After a weekend of rest due to the European rugby club semifinals, Zebre are back in action this Friday for the last Round of the RaboDirect PRO12, hosting in Parma the Irish side of Munster.

Celtic Rugby are pleased to announce that for the first time ever Sky Sports will show live matches from the RaboDirect PRO12.

The RaboDirect PRO12 is in line to record its best ever attendances since the competition changed to a home and away format ten seasons ago.

Coming into this weekend the battle for the fourth and final RaboDirect PRO12 play-off place could not have been tighter but the Scarlets took a giant step towards a semi-final spot on Saturday.

The "Città del Tricolore" Stadium will host the rugby match Zebre VS Leinster in a special event in the aim to raise funds for the territories in the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Mantua damaged by the earthquake.

Brian O'Driscoll announced his return to RaboDirect PRO12 action with a bang while the race for fourth place and a the final semi-final spot could not be closer.

Zebre forwards coach Vincenzo Troiani insists his team remain confident as they look to pull off a first win before the end of the season.

Last training of the week for the 23 capped players in the Zebre Rugby roster which will travel tomorrow to Cardiff for the last away game of the first season of the RaboDirect PRO12 for the italian franchise who will host Irish duo Leinster & Munster in the last two rounds of the PRO12.

Gonzalo Garcia believes Leinster's Irish contingent will be extra-determined to beat his Zebre side following Italy's win over Ireland in the Six Nations.

Zebre flanker Filippo Ferrarini believes the Italian side have laid the perfect foundations for an assault on the RabDirect PRO12 next season despite Friday's heartbreaking defeat to Edinburgh Rugby.

It was Judgement Day at the Millennium Stadium while Ulster finally ended their winless run in Dublin but Glasgow Warriors produced arguably the performance of the RaboDirect PRO12 round 19.

After this morning captain's run at the Rugby Citadel of Parma, Zebre coaching staff has delivered the starting line-up for the Italian franchise who will take the field tomorrow at 7pm local time against Edinburgh Rugby in the 19th round of the RaboDirect PRO12.

RaboDirect's new Voice of Rugby, Keith Wood, takes over the @RaboInsider Twitter channel for another LIVE Q&A tonight at 7:30pm

YouTube and the RaboDirect PRO12, the premier rugby competition for the clubs of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy, have announced a new partnership to bring highlights of games to rugby fans all over the world.

Zebre skipper Marco Bortolami believes Tito Tebaldi will benefit a lot from his move to RaboDirect PRO12 champions the Ospreys next season having had his own experience of playing abroad.

Parma - After two weeks of stop action due to the 6 Nations final rounds, the RaboDirect PRO12 is back in action in Parma where Zebre will try once more to find its first ever win in the competition.

The dates and kick-off times for the last three rounds of the RaboDirect PRO12 can now be confirmed following a meeting with the Tournament's Broadcasters.

Technical director Christian Gajan claims Zebre take inspiration from their RaboDirect PRO12 away games and believes they play better away from their Stadio XXV Aprile home.

Ospreys Rugby are delighted to confirm the signing of Italian international Tito Tebaldi for next season.

Travel's eve for Zebre that tomorrow will fly to Ireland for the last time this season. This will be the 5th time, the second one in Galway facing Connacht after the Heineken Cup Pool 3 Round six match played at the Sportsground one month ago; with Zebre so near to their first win after leading the score with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Zebre Rugby team had its captain's run this morning at the Rugby Citadel in Parma while a light snow fall is covering the north of Italy since Thursday morning

Zebre need to make Sunday's clash with the Dragons a landmark moment, according to forwards coach Vincenzo Troiani.

Parma - At the end of last training at Parma's Rugby Citadel this morning, the technical staff of Zebre directed by Christian Gajan have announced the side that will fly to Northern Ireland to face Ulster on Friday.

Parma - It was a special day yesterday for Marco Bortolami, captain of Zebras and ambassador of the Italians at the RaboDirect PRO12 for the season.

Zebre Rugby technical staff has cleared all doubts regarding the starting line-up that will face the 2nd placed Glasgow Warriors in the 14th Round of the RaboDirect PRO12 in Parma next Sunday.

Zebre fly-half Luciano Orquera was quick to down play his own starring role in Italy's Six Nations victory over France on Sunday, instead shining the light on his side's never-say-die attitude.

La Federazione Italiana Rugby informa che i giocatori Filippo Giusti (Petrarca Padova), Michele Sutto (Fiamme Oro Roma) ed Andy Vilk (Cammi Calvisano) sono stati messi a disposizione della Benetton Treviso dai rispettivi Club di appartenenza, in qualità di permit-player, per il quattordicesimo turno del RaboDirect PRO12 Dragons v Treviso di venerdì 8 febbraio.

Mauro Bergamasco insists he has been working on his discipline in a bid to help Zebre announce themselves in their debut RaboDirect PRO12 campaign.

If the first round of RaboDirect PRO12 games in 2013 is anything to go by then we are in for quite a year of rugby with upsets, try-fests and nail-biting defeats all on show.

Ospreys fly-half Dan Biggar believes the Welsh side will have to raise their game if they are to compete for silverware in the RaboDirect PRO12 this season despite Friday's narrow 16-15 win over Zebre.

Christian Gajan, head coach of the Zebre, has announced today the starting line-up of the Italian side for the first 2013 game that will take place in Swansea tomorrow, Friday 4th January, against the reigning champions Ospreys.

After the first leg of the back-to-back Italian derby of RaboDirect PRO12 played in Parma last Saturday, the coaching staff of Zebre has announced today its starting line-up for the return match tomorrow in Treviso.

Benetton Treviso coach Franco Smith insists his team must take a lot of positives from their derby win over the Zebre despite a narrow 10-3 success.

Zebre coaching staff has announced today the starting line-up of the white & black side to face their first ever RaboDirect PRO12 italian derby of Saturday in Parma. The back-to-back derbies will see the second leg next Saturday in Treviso

In the build-up to the big Christmas derbies the RaboDirect PRO12 sides went up against the continent's best in the final European weekend of the year.

Dries van Schalkwyk only arrived in Italy this summer but already he is adamant that he's found his home in Parma with the Zebre.

Zebre winger Giovanbattista Venditti admits his side need to work on their physicality if they are to compete with Europe's best after a heavy defeat at home to Harlequins.

The RaboDirect PRO12 took a break this weekend as the best of the Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales took to the European scene.

The Ospreys have confirmed details for their first fixture of 2013, the RaboDirect PRO12 home clash against Italian side Zebre.

While Wales suffered a heartbreaking last-gasp loss to Australia, the return of Scotland and Ireland internationals made for another compelling weekend in the RaboDirect PRO12.

Christian Gajan announced today his side to face the Heineken Cup champion Leinster in the 10th round of RaboDirect PRO12 Saturday at the RDS Arena in Dublin.

With nothing to lose against Leinster, Zebre director of rugby Christian Gajan has challenged his side to draw on their encouraging recent away performances to rediscover their defensive solidity.

The RaboDirect PRO12 came back with a bang as Newport Gwent Dragons, Cardiff Blues and Edinburgh picked up welcome wins.

Zebre Rugby technical director Christian Gajan has selected his side to face Cardiff Sunday in Parma for the 9th Round of the RaboDirect PRO12. There are several players recovering from their injuries in relation to the available players of last Sunday game vs Ulster.

Zebre sporting director Roberto Manghi insists his players are learning valuable lessons after seeing them pick up their first try-bonus point of the year.

The northern hemisphere's struggles continued in the second weekend of the international fixtures but despite the disappointing results there was still plenty of early Christmas cheer from a RaboDirect PRO12 point of view.