RECAP: Benetton v Bulls
READERS’ FORUM: Welcome to our live coverage of the Rainbow Cup Final between Benetton and the Bulls in Treviso.
Benetton will seek to make home advantage count as they have won all four games at this venue since defeat to Cardiff Blues in the Pro14 in March.
They have featured in 20 Italian Championship finals, winning 12 and losing eight, while flyhalf Paolo Garbisi ended the league stage as joint top scorer in the Pro14 conference with 52 points.
The Bulls, for whom Morne Steyn was the South African conference’s top points scorer with 53, make their maiden trip to Italy as the sides meet for the first time.
* To read our pre-match predictions, CLICK HERE!
* Our live blog will appear below, it might take a little while to load, please be patient. We apologise for the inconvenience!
Teams:
Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (captain), 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Corniel Els, 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Filippo Alongi, 19 Irné Herbst, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Marco Barbini, 22 Callum Braley, 23 Ratuva Tavuyara.
Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 7 Ruan Nortje, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Jan Uys, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements – from: 16 Schalk Erasmus, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Lizo Gqoboka, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Muller Uys, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 Gio Aplon, 24 Robert Hunt, 25 Keagan Johannes, 26 WJ Steenkamp, 27 Dawid Kellerman, 28 Sydney Tobias.
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace, Eoghan Cross (both Ireland)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
