Humiliation as Dragons sink to new low in Italy

DRAGONS were crushed In Italy conceding nine tries in what is the biggest ever Italian victory in the PRO14 as Benneton shot up to second in Conference B.

Tries flowed from Antonio Rizzi, Ratuva Tavuyara, Luca Sperandio (2), Monty Ioane, Giovanni Pettinelli, Antonio Cannone (2), while outstanding playmaker Rizzi also contributed 12 points from the tee to go with his try.

All the Dragons could muster was a converted try from wing Jared Rosser. “We were really poor,” said head coach Ceri Jones. “Defensively we were nowhere near where we have been the last month or so.

“We missed tackles and our accuracy in the middle part of the game just fed the beast. Benetton were very good, but mentally we were not where we needed to be.

“We must learn from this. You can’t just write it off as a bad day at the office.”

Benetton drew first blood with their driving lineout pushing them within inches of the try line. With the Dragons on the back foot the ball was spread wide to Rizzi who side stepped his way past two defenders.

Lively Fijian international Tavuyara was next on the scoresheet when he nudged the ball past three Dragons defenders before showing great pace to touchdown. The big wing was also the architect of their third try with a neat offload to put Sperandio over.

Kieron Crowley’s side wrapped up their try bonus point after half an hour with Sperandio diving over for his second after some fine interplay between backs and forwards who have mastered the art of offloading at the point of contact.

Dragons defence was non-existent as Ioane ran through three defenders including Wales centre Tyler Morgan to touch down for Benetton’s fifth at the left corner.

Rosser grabbed a try back for the visitor’s before the break thanks to an electric break from Rhodri Williams.

By the second-half the Dragons were a broken side with Pettinelli and Cannone both the beneficiaries of some atrocious tackling.

Barbieri rubbed further salt into the wounds as he crashed over after a period of sustained pressure by the hosts.