Scarlets hold off Benetton
URC REPORT: The Scarlets bounced back from a pair of heavy defeats with a 34-28 bonus-point victory over Benetton in Llanelli.
Both teams scored four tries with Dane Blacker scoring two tries for Scarlets, while Thomas Gallo got a brace for the visitors.
Scarlets raced to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter with tries from Rob Evans and Blacker before Benetton finally struck back just before the half-hour mark with a try from Dewaldt Duvenage.
At half-time it was 14-7 to Scarlets.
The visitors were soon level shortly after the break with Gallo getting the first of his two scores, which was converted.
A penalty from Dan Jones and then a converted try from Marc Jones gave the Scarlets a 10-points lead before Gallo scored his second try for the visitors which was converted by Rhyno Smith.
Blacker then got his second try for the home side in the 64th minute, which was converted by Angus O’Brien.
O’Brien then made it a 10-point ball game in the 70th minute when he converted a penalty into three points.
However, the visitors ensured that it would be a tense finish when Tommaso Menoncello intercepted a ball to race away for a try.
The scorers:
For Scarlets:
Tries: R Evans, Blacker 2, M Jones
Cons: D Jones 3, O’Brien
Pens: D Jones, O’Brien
For Benetton:
Tries: Duvenage, Gallo 2, Menoncello
Cons: Smith 4
Teams:
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Ryan Conbeer, 13 Steff Hughes, 12 Scott Williams (captain), 11 Steff Evans, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Dane Blacker, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Shaun Evans, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Jac Price, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Rob Evans.
Replacements: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Phil Price, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Lloyd Ashley, 20 Iestyn Rees, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Angus O’Brien, 23 Tom Rogers.
Benetton: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Ignacio Brex, 12 Marco Zanon, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Rhyno Smith, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (captain), 8 Abraham Steyn, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Irné Herbst, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Thomas Gallo.
Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Cherif Traoré, 18 Ivan Nemer, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Lorenzo Cannone, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Luca Morisi.
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Rhys Jones (Wales), Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
