Benetton down Zebre in Parma

MATCH REPORT: Benetton kept their season alive with a hard-fought 24-12 bonus-point victory over Zebre in the United Rugby Championship.

Benetton was close to getting the opening score when Rhyno Smith got over the line but failed to ground the ball in the act of scoring.

Smith soon after left the pitch for a head injury assessment after suffering a blow to the temple.

Zebre also had an opportunity to draw first blood with a penalty for offside but flyhalf Giacomo Da Re missing his kick at goal.

They did, however get the first try with prop Danilo Fischetti crossing the line in the 20th minute off a quick set play which Da Re converted.

With Smith returning to the field after minutes the visitors ensured to get on the score sheet through a successful rolling maul that saw Siua Maile cross the line which Smith couldn’t convert.

Da Re missed another shot at goal, with Smith’s boot driving Benetton deep into Zebre territory and managed to regain possession, with Maile grabbing a brace evading two tacklers to cross the line with Smith again unable to convert.

The second-half started with Zebre winger Simone Gesi crossing the line in the 47th minute after the ball went through multiple pairs of hands which went uncoverted.

The visitors suffered a huge blow in the 61st minute when replacement prop Mirco Mirco Spagnolo was sent off with a red card for a dangerous croc-roll.

Benetton went down to 13 players when Alessandro Izekor was yellow carded for a cynical action five minutes later.

Despite short in numbers, the visitors managed to get the score to go ahead in the match when a well-timed offload by Lynach found the hands of Ignacio Brex who scored the try which Smith converted.

The match went on after the full-time siren sounded, with Benetton hunting a fourth try for the bonus-point, Brex got the ball away to Albornoz who found Leonardo Marin in space to cross the whitewash.

Smith slotted the conversion as Benetton made their way into the top eight of the URC table.

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Scorers

For Zebre
Tries: Fischetti, Gesi
Con: Da Re

For Benetton 
Tries: Maile 2, Brex, Marin
Cons: Smith 2

Yellow cards: Alessandro Izekor (Benetton 66′), Fetuli Paea  (Zebre 74′)

Red card: Mirco Spagnolo (Benetton 61′)

Teams 

Zebre: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli 14 Scott Gregory 13 Giulio Bertaccini 12 Fetuli Paea 11 Simone Gesi 10 Giacomo Da Re 9 Gonzalo Garcia 8 Giovanni Licata 7 Bautista Stávile 6 Giacomo Ferrari 5 Andrea Zambonin 4 Leonard Krumov 3 Ion Neculai 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo 1 Danilo Fischetti (C
Replacements: 16 Giampietro Ribaldi 17 Luca Rizzoli 18 Muhamed Hasa 19 Matteo Canali 20 Samuele Locatelli 21 Thomas Dominguez 22 Filippo Drago 23 Giovanni Montemauri

Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Onisi Ratave, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Michele Lamaro (C), 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Giosué Zilocchi, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Thomas Gallo,
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Lorenzo Cannone, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Leonardo Marin, Ignacio Brex

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Fillipo Russo (Italy) and Franco Rosella (Italy)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)