Benetton marches on, Munster's European hopes up in flames
WRAP: Benetton battled past a spirited Cardiff 38-35 at Stadio Monigo to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup, whilst Munster’s hopes of securing European silverware this season went up in flames after going down 21-31 against Exeter.
The Italians – who had topped their pool with four straight wins – raced into an early lead when Tommaso Menoncello scored inside seven seconds after the bouncing kick-off was not claimed before Jacob Umaga cut through the visitors’ defence to make it 14-0 in the third minute.
Cardiff eventually sparked into life when captain Liam Belcher barged over following a line-out carry.
Benetton, though, soon came again following a tap penalty to put Thomas Gallo through before Samoa flyhalf Umaga ran in his second try of the afternoon in the 15th minute.
Cardiff rallied when fullback Jacob Beetham crashed over from close range, but a sustained spell of pressure brought Benetton a fourth try through Onisi Ratave before Alun Lawrence’s converted score reduced the deficit to 33-21 at halftime.
Benetton made another fast start in the second half as Menoncello swiftly went over after a break down the right, but Ellis Bevan was fed by Lawrence to get Cardiff in again.
Umaga was shown a yellow card for his late no-arms tackle on the Cardiff No.8 in the build-up.
Beetham gave Cardiff hope with another try in the 55th after picking off a stray pass, with Callum Sheedy converting to bring the gap down to three points.
Cardiff pressed during the closing stages, with Rhys Barratt just held up and Rory Thornton not able to get over the line as Benetton held out.
In the earlier clash, Exeter Chiefs ended Munster’s hopes of claiming European silverware by defeating Clayton McMillian’s men by 32-21 at Sandy Park.
In a match of literally two halves, Exeter held a 31-0 lead at halftime after a brace by Henry Slade, and tries by Ross Vintcent, Will Rigg and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso all converted by Slade.
Munster kept Exeter scoreless in the second stanza with Jack Crowley grabbing a double alongside Tadhg Beirne, with Crowley converting all the tries, but Exeter’s defensive effort proved enough to secure a 10-point win to advance to the quarterfinals.
Saturday’s opening clash saw Montpellier put on a dominant display, thrashing Perpignan by 53-13.
Winger Melvyn Rates scored a hat-trick in 43 minutes, with scores from Jon Echegaray, Ali Price, Justo Piccardo, Gabriel Ngandebe and a brace by Ricky Rickitelli seeing the hosts cruising to victory.
Perpignan only managed a solitary try by Pietro Ceccarelli, with flyhalf Antoine Aucagne slotting two penalties and a conversion.
In the final clashes on Saturday, Stade Rochelais battled past Newcastle Red Bulls, whilst Ulster scraped past Ospreys in a tight affair.
Newcastle opened the scoring with a penalty by Brett Connon before Stade replied with three tries by Ihaia West, Jules Favre and Gabin Garault.
Elliot Obatoyinbo responded for the hosts before the break, before Murray McCallum’s try, followed by Connon’s conversion, levelled matters.
Connon’s 55th-minute penalty extended the lead for the hosts before Fergus Lee Warner was yellow-carded a minute later.
Stade pulled away with two penalties by Diego Jurd and a late try by Nolhann Couillaud to secure the win.
In Belfast, Ulster secured a hard-fought 28-24 win over United Rugby Championship rivals Ospreys.
Cormac Izuchukwu and Dave McCann scored in the first half for Ulster, both converted by Nathan Doak.
Ospreys, however, held the lead at the break by 17-14 with tries by Ruben Morgan-Williams and Dan Kasense with Dan Edwards converting both tries and slotting a penalty in the 29th minute.
Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney scored tries in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, both converted by Doak, before Jack Murphy was yellow-carded in the 68th minute.
Ospreys gave themselves a shot with 12 minutes to go after a penalty try was awarded, but couldn’t record another score to change the outcome of the result.
*See all scores and scorers below!
Montpellier 53-13 Perpignan
Scorers
For Montpellier:
Tries: Rates 3, Echegaray, Price, Piccardo, Riccitelli 2, Ngandebe
Cons: Miotti, Vincent 3
For USAP Perpignan:
Try: Ceccarelli
Con: Aucagne
Pens: Aucagne 2
Yellow card: Lucas Velarte (USAP, 66′)
Teams
Montpellier: 15 Jon Echegaray, 14 Gabriel Ngandebe, 13 Arthur Vincent, 12 Justo Piccardo, 11 Melvyn Rates, 10 Domingo Miotti, 9 Alexis Bernadet, 8 Alex Masibaka, 7 Lenni Nouchi (captain), 6 Yacouba Camara, 5 Bastien Chalureau, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Wilfrid Hounkpatin, 2 Lyam Akrab, 1 Enzo Forletta
Replacements: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Valentin Welsch, 18 Mohamed Haouas, 19 Tyler DuGuid, 20 Billy Vunipola, 21 Ali Price, 22 Thomas Vincent, 23 Auguste Cadot
USAP Perpignan: 15 Mayron Fahy, 14 Jordan Petaia, 13 Riko Buliruarua, 12 Duncan Paia’aua, 11 Theo Forner, 10 Antoine Aucagne, 9 James Hall, 8 Joaquin Oviedo, 7 Matteo le Corvec (captain), 6 Bastien Chinarro, 5 Posolo Tuilagi, 4 Adrien Warion, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Ignacio Ruiz, 1 Giorgi Beria
Replacements: 16 Mathys Lotrian, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Akato Fakatika, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Max Hicks, 21 Lucas Velarte, 22 Maxim Granell, 23 Tommaso Allan
Referee: Adam Leal (England)
Assistant referees: Sara Cox (England), Jonathan Healy (England)
TMO: Peter Allan (Scotland)
Exeter Chiefs 31-21 Munster
Scorers
For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Vintcent, Slade, Rigg, Feyi-Waboso
Cons: Slade 4
Pen: Slade
For Munster:
Tries: Crowley 2, Beirne
Cons: Crowley 3
Yellow card: Tadhg Beirne (Munster, 72′)
Teams
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Steve Varney, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ross Vintcent, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Jimmy Roots, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Rus Tuima, 20 Finn Worley-Brady, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Campbell Ridl
Munster: 15 Ben O’Connor, 14 Thaakir Abrahams, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Diarmuid Kilgallen, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 Edwin Edogbo, 3 John Ryan, 2 Lee Barron, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Michael Milne, 18 Michael Ala’alatoa, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 Ruadhán Quinn, 21 Ben O’Donovan, 22 Seán O’Brien, 23 John Hodnett
Referee: Jeremy Rozier (France)
Assistant referees: Filippo Russo (Italy), Franco Rosella (Italy)
TMO: Herve Lasausa Lespy Labaylett (France)
Benetton 38-35 Cardiff
Scorers
For Benetton:
Tries: Menoncello 2, Umaga 2, Gallo, Ratave
Cons: Umaga 4
For Cardiff:
Tries: Belcher, Beetham 2, Lawrence, Bevan
Cons: Sheedy 5
Yellow card: Jacob Umaga (Benetton, 45′)
Teams
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Onisi Ratave, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Manuel Zuliani, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Giosue Zilocchi, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Destiny Aminu, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 So’otala Fa’aso’o, 21 Alessandro Izekor, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Paolo Odogwu
Cardiff: 15 Ioan Lloyd, 14 Mason Grady, 13 Elijah Evans, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Jacob Beetham, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Ellis Bevan, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Alex Mann, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Evan Rees, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Ed Byrne
Replacements: 16 Dafydd Hughes, 17 Rhys Barratt, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Lucas de la Rua, 20 Evan Lloyd, 21 Ieuan Davies, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Cam Winnett
Referee: Kevin Bralley (France)
Assistant referee: Pierre Bru (France), Flavien Hourquet (France)
TMO: Julien Castaignede (France)
Newcastle Red Bulls 18-26 Stade Rochelais
Scorers
For Newcastle Red Bulls:
Tries: Obatoyinbo, McCallum
Con: Connon
Pens: Connon 2
For Stade Rochelais:
Tries: West, Favre, Garault, Couillaud
Pens: Jurd 2
Teams
Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Rhys Beeckmans, 11 Oli Spencer, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simon Benitez Cruz, 7 Tom Christie, 6 Tom Gordon, 5 Freddie Clarke, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 George McGuigan (captain), 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Samson Adejimi, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Fergus Lee-Warner, 20 Reuben Parsons, 21 James Elliott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Tim Cardall
Stade Rochelais: 15 Ihaia West, 14 Jules Favre, 13 UJ Seuteni, 12 Adrien Seguret, 11 Hoani Bosmorin, 10 Diego Jurd, 9 Thomas Berjon (captain), 8 Watisoni Waqanisaravi, 7 Lucas Andjisseramatchi, 6 Edouard Richer, 5 Simon Huchet, 4 Thomas Lavault, 3 Karl Sorin, 2 Gabin Garault, 1 Louis Penverne
Replacements: 16 Tolu Latu, 17 Christian Luaki, 18 Joel Sclavi, 19 Aleksandre Kuntelia, 20 Judicael Cancoriet, 21 Alexandre Kaddouri, 22 Sacha Elissalde, 23 Nolhann Couillaud
Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland), Tomas O’Sullivan (Ireland)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
Ulster 28-24 Ospreys
Scorers
For Ulster:
Tries: Izuchukwu, McCann, Stockdale, Timoney
Cons: Doak 4
For Ospreys:
Tries: Morgan-Williams, Kasende, Penalty try does not require a conversion
Cons: Edwards 2
Pen: Edwards
Yellow cards: Luke Morgan (Ospreys, 55′), Jack Murphy (Ulster, 68′)
Teams
Ulster: 15 Ethan Mcilroy, 14 Werner Kok, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jake Flannery, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Nick Timoney, 6 Dave McCann, 5 Cormac Izuchukwu, 4 Iain Henderson (captain), 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Angus Bell
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Sam Crean, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Charlie Irvine, 20 Bryn Ward, 21 Conor McKee, 22 Jack Murphy, 23 Zac Ward
Ospreys: 15 Jack Walsh, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Luke Morgan, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Reuben Morgan-Williams, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Jac Morgan (captain), 6 Huw Sutton, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Rhys Henry, 2 Sam Parry, 1 Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16 Efan Daniel, 17 Steff Thomas, 18 Tom Botha, 19 James Fender, 20 Harri Deaves, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Evardi Boshoff, 23 Iestyn Hopkins
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe (England)
Assistant referees: Daniel Jones (England), Calum Howard (England)
TMO: David Rose (England)
With additional reporting by: @PA
