Benetton end Edinburgh's winning run in Italy

WRAP: Edinburgh’s perfect start in the URC came crashing to a halt as Benetton turned the form book on its head with a 31-12 win.

The Scots had won four from four, while their opponents began the afternoon assignment winless in 15th place.

But the tone was set in the second minute when Piero Gritti touched down to put the Italians in front, but their momentum was halted by Matias Medrano’s hit on Grant Gilchrist earned him a 20-minute red card.

Ignacio Mendy went over for a second despite the numerical disadvantage and Edinburgh went down to 14 men themselves when Callum Hunter-Hill earned a yellow. Bautista Bernasconi soon made it three tries, all unconverted, before Jacob Umaga’s penalty made it 18-0 at the break.

A penalty from the flyhalf stretched the lead by another three points and by the time Onisi Ratave broke through the gap was too big for Edinburgh to overcome.

Second-half scores from Harri Morris and Harry Paterson leant an air of respectability to the scoreline but a late penalty ensured the hosts had the final word.

*More to follow….

Benetton 31-12 Edinburgh

The scorers:

For Benetton:
Tries: Gritti, Mendy, Bernasconi, Ratave
Con: Umaga
Pens: Umaga 2, Smith

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Morris, Paterson
Con: Grayson

Benetton: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Federico Zanandrea, 12 Paolo Odogwu, 11 Onisi Ratave, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani (captain), 6 Isaia Walker-Leawere, 5 Piero Gritti, 4 Mattia Midena, 3 Giosué Zilocchi, 2 Nicholas Gasperini, 1 Matias Medrano.
Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Marcos Gallorini, 19 Jadin Kingi, 20 Antony Miranda, 21 Louis Werchon, 22 Jean Smith, 23 François Mey.

Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Geordie Gwynn, 13 Matt Currie (captain), 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 James Grayson, 9 Hector Patterson, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Glen Young, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Harri Morris, 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17 Jamie Stewart, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Tom Currie, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Harry Paterson.

Referee: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Fillipo Russo (France), Manuel Bottino (France)
TMO: Egon Seconds (South Africa)

Dragons 35-14 Zebre

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Richards, Tuitavuki, Inisi, Evans, Penalty try
Cons: De Beer 4

For Zebre:
Tries: Canali, Wade
Cons: De Re 2

Teams:

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (captain), 14 David Richards, 13 Fine Inisi, 12 Fetuli Paea, 11 Anzelo Tuitavuki, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Harrison Keddie, 7 Evan Minto, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Matthew Screech, 4 Barny Langton-Cryer, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Jordan Morris.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Rodrigo Martinez, 18 Owain James, 19 Nick Thomas, 20 Sam Scarfe, 21 Morgan Lloyd, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Joe Westwood.

Zebre Parma: 15 Giovanni Montemauri, 14 Leonardo Sodo Migliori, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Riccardo Casarin, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Thomas Dominguez, 8 Davide Ruggeri, 7 Bautista Stavile, 6 Giacomo Ferrari (captain), 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Francesco Ruffolo, 3 Juan Barbotti, 2 Giampietro Ribaldi, 1 Sergio Pelliccioli.
Replacements: 16 Francisco Minervino, 17 Federico Pisani, 18 Octavio Barbatti, 19 Matteo Canali, 20 Jacopo Botturi, 21 Patricio Baronio, 22 Giovanni Licata / Jacopo Trulla, 23 Tobias Wade.

Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Colin Brett (South Africa)

Ospreys v Cardiff

Teams:

Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Luke Morgan, 13 Owen Watkin (captain), 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Lawson Creighton, 9 Luke Davies, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Ross Moriarty, 6 Liam Wright, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 James Ratti, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sam Parry (captain), 1 Steffan Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Efan Daniel, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Rhys Davies, 20 Morgan Morse, 21 Harri Williams, 22 Harri Wilde, 23 Evardi Boshoff.

Cardiff: 15 Matty Young, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Le Roux Malan, 12 Steff Emanuel, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Semisi Paea, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 Josh McNally (captain), 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Daf Hughes, 1 Danny Southworth.
Replacements: 16 Tom Howe, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Tom Manz, 20 Lucas de la Rua, 21 Alex Davies, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Osian and Arwin Lewis.

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Carwyn Sion (Wales), Marc Caudle (Wales)
TMO: Jenny Davies (Wales)