Cardiff charges towards play-offs; stalemate in Parma

FRIDAY WRAP: Cardiff took a huge step towards a United Rugby Championship play-off spot with a hard-fought 26-21 victory over Munster at Arms Park.

In the other Friday game, an injury-time Matt Currie converted by Cammy Scott, earned Zebre Edinburgh a 25-all draw with hosts Zebre in Parma.

* There was little between Cardiff and Munster, but two yellow cards for Munster proved crucial as Cardiff beat an Irish province for the first time since September 2022.

Cardiff’s tries came from Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Harri Millard and Johan Mulder. There was also a penalty try award with a conversion apiece for Ben Thomas and Callum Sheedy.

Calvin Nash, Mike Haley and Tom Farrell scored Munster’s tries with Jack Crowley converting all three.

Cardiff looked to have taken an early lead when Mulder raced over but TMO replays showed the scoring pass to be forward.

That decision meant Munster were first on the scoreboard with Craig Casey making a dart before sending out a long pass to Nash, who strolled over.

Munster suffered a blow when lock Fineen Wycherley was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on with the Welsh side quickly capitalising.

Thomas was the catalyst with first a well-timed pass to send Liam Belcher through a gap and when the ball was recycled, his quick transfer resulted in a try for Hamer-Webb, his fourth in two games.

Munster were quickly hit by a second try when a strong burst from Taulupe Faletau down the left-hand touchline provided Millard with the run-in.

Wycherley returned from the sin-bin and in time to see his side regain the lead with a well-created try from Haley which Crowley converted for a 14-12 half-time advantage.

The Irish side dominated the early stages of the second half and were rewarded with a try from Farrell, who evaded Mulder’s attempted tackle to score under the posts.

Cardiff immediately responded when a penalty try was awarded after Munster’s Jack O’Donoghue was yellow-carded for preventing Belcher from touching down when the Irish flanker was in an offside position.

In Donoghue’s absence, Cardiff took the lead with their bonus-point try from Mulder and despite two misses at goal from Sheedy, they were able to hang on for a crucial win.

8️⃣0️⃣⏱️ drama 😱@edinburghrugby say NO 🚫!#BKTURC #URC | #KidsRound #ZEBvEDI pic.twitter.com/aNTOCPWk18

— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) April 25, 2025

* Cammy Scott held his nerve to land a last-gasp conversion as Edinburgh snatched a 25-25 draw against Zebre.

Replacement fly-half Scott split the posts with a tricky kick from the right touchline after Matt Currie collected Darcy Graham’s pass to finish the final play of the game in Parma.

Edinburgh trailed 12-6 at the break, with starting number 10 Ross Thompson kicking two penalties in response to two tries from Zebre scrum-half Alessandro Fusco.

Fullback Jacopo Trulla touched down early in the second period to stretch the hosts’ advantage, allowing Giacomo Da Re to slot his second successful conversion after returning from a first-half spell in the sin bin.

A pair of scores from prop Boan Venter gave Edinburgh hope before two Giovanni Montemauri penalties looked to have sealed victory for the Italian side.

But Zebre were denied by Currie and Scott during the late drama, leaving Edinburgh ninth in the table, a point and a place outside the play-off places with two rounds of fixtures remaining.

Friday’s scorers and scores follow below …

Zebre 25-25 Edinburgh

The scorers

For Zebre
Tries: Fusco 2, Trulla
Cons: Da Re 2
Pens: Montemauri 2

For Edinburgh
Tries: Venter 2, Currie
Cons: Thompson, Scott
Pens: Thompson 2

Yellow cards: Giacomo Da Re (Zebre, 18), Ben Muncaster (Edinburgh, 65)

Teams

Zebre: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Scott Gregory, 13 Fetuli Paea, 12 Damiano Mazza, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giacomo Da Re, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Bautista Stavile, 6 Giacomo Ferrari, 5 Leonard Krumov, 4 Matteo Canali , 3 Muhamed Hasa, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti (captain).
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Paolo Buonfiglio, 18 Juan Pitinari, 19 Andrea Zambonin, 20 Rusiate Nasove, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Giovanni Montemauri, 23 Luca Morisi

Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Jack Brown, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Ben Muncaster, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Glen Young, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Paddy Harrison, 1 Boan Venter.
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Robin Hislop, 18 Angus Williams, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Mosese Tuipulotu.

Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)
Assistant referees: Filippo Russo (Italy), Dario Merli (Italy)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)

Cardiff 26-21 Munster

The scorers

For Cardiff
Tries: Hamer-Webb, Millard, Mulder, Penalty try
Cons: Sheedy, Thomas, a penalty try does not require a conversion

For Munster
Tries: Nash, Haley, T Farrell
Cons: Crowley 3

Yellow cards: Fineen Wycherley (Munster, 23), Jack O’Donoghue (Munster, 54)

Teams

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Harri Millard, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Gabe Hamer-Webb, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Botham, 5 Teddy Williams, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher (captain), 1 Danny Southworth.
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Rhys Litterick, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Ben Donnell, 22 Aled Davies, 23 Tinus de Beer

Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 Alex Kendellen, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Tadhg Beirne (captain), 4 Fineen Wycherley, 3 John Ryan, 2 Niall Scannell, 1 Michael Milne.
Replacements: 16 Diarmuid Barron, 17 Mark Donnelly, 18 Ronan Foxe, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Ruadhán Quinn, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Tony Butler, 23 Seán O’Brien.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Mike English (Wales), Aaron Parry (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)