Benetton too much for Glasgow
MATCH REPORT: Dean Budd’s first-half double inspired Benetton to a 20-17 victory over Glasgow Warriors to back up their form with a fourth win on the trot.
The Italian outfit started strongly in front of their home crowd and Budd opened the scoring before Sam Johnson replied for Glasgow.
Budd fired back and George Horne put the Warriors ahead at the break, but the Scottish side could only find three points in the second half.
Braam Steyn got Benetton’s third and Tommaso Allan kicked a late penalty to power Benetton up to 35 points in a red-hot run of form.
Coming off the back of their impressive double over Zebre, the home side started the better and got the opening score on 14 minutes as giant lock Budd drove over from short distance.
Allan sent over the conversion but the Warriors soon brought things back level, with a scrum on the Benetton line creating the space for centre Johnson to crash over.
The game see-sawed once again just before the half-hour, as Benetton forced their way downfield and doubled their try-count as Budd peeled off a driving maul and powered through two defenders on the line.
The Italians enjoyed more possession in the first half but were stung just before the break as Johnson stepped twice off his left foot to break into the 22 before offloading to Horne for the run-in.
Glasgow led 14-12 at the break but were behind again on 52 minutes as Benetton went wide and Steyn added his name to the growing scoresheet.
In keeping with the first 50 minutes the Scots then played their way into the home 22 with an excellent spell of pressure – only disturbed five metres from the line as Adam Hastings’ pass caught Ryan Wilson on its way to Ruaridh Jackson.
Johnson continued to impress and found space in midfield once again, enabling Hastings to notch a penalty after the defence was penalised.
With the score at 17-17 Benetton rallied once more, battling their way into the Warriors 22 and producing a simple opportunity for Allan to fire over a penalty.
Glasgow were able to get the ball down over the line in the final ten minutes but were penalised for a forward pass to Niko Matawalu, with Benetton missing a late kick at goal but holding on for an impressive win.
The scorers:
For Benetton:
Tries: Budd 2, Steyn
Con: Allan
Pen: Allan
For Glasgow Warriors:
Tries: Johnson, Horne
Cons: Hastings 2
Pen: Hastings
Teams:
Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dean Budd (captain), 4 Irné Herbst, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Nicola Quaglio.
Replacements: 16 Tomas Baravalle, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Marco Zanon.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Ruairdh Jackson, 14 Robbie Nairn, 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Niko Matawalu, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 George Horne, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Ryan Wilson (captain), 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Siua Halanukonuka, 2 Grant Stewart, 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Alex Allan, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Rob Harley, 20 Matt Smith, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Lee Jones.
Referee: Joy Neville (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Gabriel Chirnoaga (Italy)
TMO: Alan Falzone (Italy)
@Pro14Official
🏉🏉 Two tries, one win and the man-of-the-match award – a good day’s work for @BenettonRugby‘s Dean Budd 👏
Award presented by Massimo Bauce on behalf of Guinness 🙌#GUINNESSPRO14 #BENvGLA pic.twitter.com/o1tht7pSad
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) January 5, 2019
RugbyPass has created a next generation rugby rating system, based on machine learning and shaped by game winning moments. The system (RPI) is a world first for its complexity and comprehensive embrace of northern and southern hemisphere players and teams. By using in-depth data analysis, RPI determines exactly what it takes to win, in real time. Explore the RPI now!
