Treviso hit back in Italian derby
The boot of Kris Burton eased Treviso to a comfortable 37-14 bonus-point victory over Italian rivals Aironi and avenged last Friday’s defeat at the hands of their compatriots.
The Italian flyhalf kicked 17 points and was instrumental in much of Treviso’s play as they ran in four tries in a fiercely contested derby.
After collecting only their second win of the season in the reverse fixture, Aironi made one enforced change, the injured Fabio Ongaro replaced by Roberto Santamaria at hooker while Treviso boss Franco Smith opted for a reshuffle – and it paid off.
In the backs, the only player who kept his place was Brendan Williams, while the front row completely changed with props Lorenzo Cittadini and Michele Rizzo starting and Franco Sbaraglini in for the injured Enrico Ceccato at hooker.
Aironi flyhalf Luciano Orquera, who set a new record in the Pro12 by kicking nine penalties from nine attempts in last Friday’s 27-13 win, set the ball rolling with similar precision on seven minutes.
Not to be outdone, Burton levelled the scores on ten minutes with a three-pointer of his own, despite hitting the post with an earlier attempt, before the two again exchanged penalties bring the score to 6-6 after 14 minutes.
Three minutes later, South African scumhalf Tobias Botes scrambled over the first try of the game from close range before Alessandro Zanni gleefully went over after collecting from the back of a Sbaraglini line-out on 28 minutes. Burton unsurprisingly added the extras for both.
Three minutes later Orquera made it three penalties from three to reduce Aironi’s arrears to 20-9 but Burton’s third penalty of the half sent Treviso in at half-time 23-6 in front.
In a feisty second period, Sbaraglini extended the hosts advantage when he powered his way over on 51 minutes – with Burton adding the two points – before fullback Andreas Masi compounded Aironi’s misery when he was sin-binned for a clash with Botes five minutes later.
A penalty try and subsequent conversion from Burton on 63 minutes sealed the game for Treviso but to their credit, Aironi didn’t throw in the towel.
The visitors spent the next ten minutes camped in Treviso territory, and their pressure paid off when Luke McLean was sin-binned for holding in the tackle and a superb breakaway try from Gabriel Pizarro in the final minute of the game provided a small dose of consolation.
The scorers:
For Treviso:
Tries: Sbaraglini, Zanni, Botes, Penalty try
Cons: Burton 4
Pens: Burton 3
For Aironi:
Try: Pizarro
Pens: Orquera 3
The teams:
Treviso: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Gonzalo Padrò, 5 Corniel van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (captain), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 18 Pedro Di Santo, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Simon Picone, 22 Edoardo Gori, 23 Alberto Di Bernardo.
Aironi: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Gabriel Pizarro, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Nicola Cattina, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Fabio Staibano, 2 Roberto Santamaria, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D’Apice, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Luca Redolfini, 19 Filippo Ferrarini, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Naas Olivier, 23 Alberto Benettin.
