CAPTAIN George Biagi says Zebre won’t worry about what the critics have said following their nightmare opening weekend in the Guinness Pro12, the Italians are just focusing on righting some wrongs against Newport Gwent Dragons.

The men from Parma suffered a 59-5 defeat to the Ospreys last Friday and have spent the week in Wales preparing for their round two fixture at Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.15pm).

Zebre ended last season by thrashing the Dragons 47-22 at the Stadio XXV Aprile but failed to pick up where they left off.

Italian international lock Biagi, who was born in Ayrshire and started playing rugby at college in Edinburgh, was frustrated by the display out west but expects a dramatic improvement in Newport.

“The Ospreys was a difficult game for us and we had a similar start last year when we had Cardiff then Newport straight away and reacted with a better performance,” he said, referring to their 13-0 loss in 2015.

“We want to put things right on Friday but we can’t just keep reacting to bad results – we have to start seasons better because if we had done that last year then it would have made a big difference in that bottom three (with the Dragons and Treviso).

“We took a while to get going and then won a few games on the trot, so even if it had only been bonus points that we got at the start of the season then we would have been in a better position.

“We know that people are going to talk about us after losing like we did at the Ospreys but we can’t worry about what they say.

“We want to put things right and just have to focus on our performance and build this season, because we will be playing Champions Cup rugby.”

Zebre include nine internationals in their XV who toured with Italy this summer for the Tests against Argentina, the USA and Canada with hooker Oliviero Fabiani and lock Quintin Geldenhuys returning to add steel up front.

Zebre: K Baker, L Greeff, G Bisegni, T Boni, G Di Giulio, C Canna, G Palazzani, A De Marchi, O Fabiani, P Ceccarelli, Q Geldenhuys, G Biagi (captain), J Sarto, M Mbanda, A Van Schalkwyk.

Replacements: C Festuccia, G Roan, D Chistolini, G Koegelenberg, F Ruzza, C Engelbrecht, M Pratichetti, E Padovani