Duhan and Dylan on the scoresheet as Edinburgh thump Benetton

FRIDAY WRAP: Dylan Richardson and Darcy Graham grabbed two tries each as Edinburgh beat Benetton 43-0 at the Hive Stadium to seal their first United Rugby Championship win of the season.

Back row Richardson and Scotland teammate Graham both went over in each half as Edinburgh notched a bonus point in their first home game of the season – and there were also tries for Duhan van der Merwe, Piers O’Conor and captain Magnus Bradbury.

Edinburgh raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 12 minutes as quick hands out wide sent Scotland wing Van der Merwe racing in for a brilliant try before back-row Richardson crashed over from close range. Both were converted by Cammy Scott.

Darcy Graham raced in at the corner for Edinburgh’s third try before the interval, which Scott superbly converted from the touchline to give the home side a commanding 21-0 lead.

Benetton centre Malakai Fekitoa was sent to the sin-bin soon after the restart for his no-arms tackle on Scott, who was forced off for a head injury assessment and replaced by Ross Thompson.

Richardson went over for his second try to clinch Edinburgh their bonus point and after O’Conor scored his first Edinburgh try, No.8 Bradbury bulldozed over and Graham raced in for the final score.

*Taulupe Faletau made a try-scoring return from injury as Cardiff beat Dragons 24-17 in the Welsh derby.

The Wales No.8t, on his first appearance of the season following a calf injury, took just 13 minutes to make his mark.

Dragons were looking for a first win over Cardiff in over a decade but got off to a bad start when Alex Mann was pushed over by the visiting pack after just 58 seconds.

They hit back five minutes later and led by two points following Brodie Coughlan’s try and Tinus de Beer’s conversion.

But Faletau’s try handed the initiative back to Cardiff and Dan Thomas became the third member of the back-row trio to score as they forged 10 points ahead at half-time.

Prop Danny Southworth’s score just after the hour mark secured the bonus point for Cardiff before Ben Carter’s try and a late Angus O’Brien penalty gave the Dragons fans something to cheer in an underwhelming second half.

See below for Friday’s scores and scorers!

Friday, October 17:

Edinburgh 43-0 Benetton

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Richardson 2, Graham 2, O’Conor, Bradbury
Cons: Scott 3, Thompson

For Benetton: None

Teams:

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Cammy Scott, 9 Charlie Shiel, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Dylan Richardson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Paddy Harrison, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Glen Young, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Ross McCann.

Benetton: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 Filippo Drago, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Ignacio Mendy, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Louis Werchon, 8 So’otala Fa’aso’o, 7 John Bryant, 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Eli Snyman (captain), 4 Giulio Marini, 3 Giosué Zilocchi, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Mirco Spagnolo.
Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Tiziano Pasquali, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Leonardo Marin.

Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales)
Assistant referees: Jonny MacKenzie (Scotland), Finlay Brown (Scotland)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)

Dragons 17-24 Cardiff

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Coghlan, Carter
Cons: De Beer 2
Pen: O’Brien

For Cardiff:
Tries: Mann, Faletau, D Thomas, Southworth
Cons: Sheedy, B Thomas

Teams:

Dragons: 15 Angus O’Brien (c0-captain), 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Aneurin Owen, 12 Harri Ackerman, 11 Fine Inisi, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Harry Beddall, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Ben Carter (co-captain), 4 Seb Davies, 3 Robert Hunt, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Oli Burrows, 17 Rodrigo Martinez, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Ryan Woodman, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Huw Anderson

Cardiff: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Josh Adams, 13 Jacob Beetham, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Tom Bowen, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Aled Davies, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Dan Thomas, 6 Alex Mann, 5 George Nott, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Keiron Assiratti, 2 Liam Belcher(captain), 1 Corey Domachowski
Replacements: 16 Evan Lloyd, 17 Danny Southworth, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Alun Lawrence, 21 Taine Basham, 22 Johan Mulder, 23 Ioan Lloyd

Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales); Adam Jones (Wales)
TMO: Stefano Roscini (Italy)