Benetton sends lame Lions packing
MATCH REPORT: Italian outfit Benetton moved to within striking distance of the top eight with a desperately dour 15-10 win over a very poor Lions side in Treviso on Sunday.
The two-tries-to-one win also ensured the Lions remained winless after three rounds – leaving the Bulls as the only team to have recorded a win away from home.
Benetton, single-minded and purposeful as always, had to live off scraps against a Lions team that had 60 percent of the possession and territory.
However, the Johannesburg-based outfit – who seemed to be having the same coaching issues that troubled them last season – failed to make use of the dominance provided by their oversized pack of forwards.
It did not help that their turnover count went into double figures, nor that they were regularly on the wrong side of Irish referee Peter Martin.
They were certainly their own worst enemies, as the visitors seemed to lack creativity on attack and relied mostly on one-off forward runners to make any ground.
In contrast, Benetton looked far more likely to score and it is telling that the Lions’ only try was scored by gargantuan replacement prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, while Benetton’s tries were scored by backs – Edoardo Padovani and Malakai Fekitoa.
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It didn’t take Benetton long to expose the Lions’ very brittle defence, with new import Malakai Fekitoa charging over in the fifth minute. Flyhalf Tomas Albornoz added the conversion – 7-0.
More than 10 minutes later – after a series of breakdown penalties in their favour, only for the Lions to lose possession in their own line-outs – flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse slotted a penalty, 3-7.
The Lions turned to their forwards for moving the ball towards the Benetton line, but were simply not clinical enough to turn their opportunities into points.
It got worse as replacement Corne Fourie was penalised a metre from the Benetton line for an illegal attempt to propel himself forward, making a mockery of the 60 percent possession they had in the game for the first half-an-hour.
Despite their glut of possession and territory, the visitors were still trailing 3-7 at the half-time break.
🤩 Fekitoa dances his way over the tryline to open the scores in Treviso for @BenettonRugby #BKTURC #URC #BENvLIO pic.twitter.com/Nfs6huQQ7o
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) November 5, 2023
The start to the second half was even more pitiful and wretched as the finish of the first – turnovers and penalties marking almost every passage of play.
In the 56th minute replacement Jacob Umaga turned one of those penalties into three points – the home team leading by that early try, 10-3.
The Lions eventually put enough phases together for the beefy monster that is replacement prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye (reportedly at around 150 kilograms) to barge over. Sanele Nohamba, having moved to flyhalf and taken over the kicking, levelled it up at 10-all with his conversion as the game moved into the final quarter.
With the game moving into the final 10 minutes – following another horrid Lions error on attack – Benetton swept downfield, with Edoardo Padovani finishing off a great team try. The conversion was wide – 15-10.
The match, significantly, ended with the Lions taking the ball through 20-odd phases and moving from near their own 22 to inside the Benetton half, only to cough up possession with another horrid handling error.
Man of the match: Quan Horn made some metres, Richard Kriel had his moments, Emmanuel Tsituka worked hard, as usual, Hanru Sirgel had a decent starting debut and Asenathi Ntlabakanye had his moments off the bench, especially on defence. Edoardo Padovani deservedly scored the match-winning try, Malakai Fekitoa scored the opening try and asked questions of the Lions’ defence, Sebastian Negri, captain Eli Snyman (very familiar to the South Africans) and replacement Jacob Umaga were all impressive. My award goes to Benetton flank Alessandro Izekor, who epitomised the home team’s grit with a match-high 18 tackles.
The scorers
For Benetton
Tries: Fekitoa, Padovani
Con: Albornoz
Pen: Umaga
For the Lions
Try: Ntlabakanye
Con: Nohamba
Pen: Hendrikse
Teams
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Edoardo Padovani, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Filippo Drago, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Eli Snyman (captain), 4 Edoardo Iachizzi, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Michele Lamaro, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Marco Zanon.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tsituka, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Morgan Naudé.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Johannes Pretorius, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Rhynardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.
Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland) and Oisin Quinn (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
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* Picture credit: @BenettonRugby
🔥 Powering through!
Asenathi Ntlabakanye brings the scores level for Emirates @LionsRugbyCo 🤩#BKTURC #URC #BENvLIO pic.twitter.com/msFlTMoi12
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) November 5, 2023
