Anguish as Cardiff crash to humiliating 10-try defeat

CARDIFF’S season ended with an embarrassing 10-try thrashing at the hands of Benetton.

The Welsh region look rudderless both on and off the pitch as they were taken to the cleaners by a far superior Benetton side.

This was the fifth biggest losing margin in the history of the competition, and Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young admitted his players let the club down.

“The players are really hurting because they’ve let themselves, the jersey and supporters down,” said Young.

“Disappointment isn’t a strong enough word. We looked like a team that are running on empty, physically and mentally. We were slow in everything we did tonight, in speed and thought, and physically we weren’t at the races.

“Unfortunately we’ve now got a long wait until we can put things right. I feel for the coaches. They’ve put a lot of work in and we haven’t coached them to go out and play like that.”

Benetton opened the scoring when Lorenzo Cannone powered over from short-range, and they soon extended their lead as Tomas Albornoz hit a tremendous angle from an Ignacio Brex pass to score.

Italy captain Michele Lamaro grabbed their third try courtesy of a well-timed offload from Federico Ruzza. Scrumhalf Callum Braley clinched the try bonus points as he run in unopposed from 45 metres.

Cardiff hit back at the stroke of half-time when Rhys Carre charged his way over the line, but they trailed 31-7 at the break. Wales prop Carre touched down again from short-range at the start of the second half. But Benetton clicked back into gear with Albornoz finishing off a tremendous team try, before some excellent handling sent Braley over for his second.

A Max Llewellyn try and two more points from Rhys Priestland’s boot reduced the arrears to 22, but Rhyno Smith then scored Benetton’s seventh with a longrange effort.

Cardiff had completely capitulated, and a loose pass from Priestland allowed Ruzza to score. Gionvanni Pettinelli then added try number nine before Smith rounded off a fantastic display, which included 29 points for his side, with the final try and converted both of the late touchdowns. MATCH STATS... BENE v CARD 10 Penalties conceded 7 15 Lineouts won 10 1 Lineouts lost 2 3 Scrums won 6 1 Scrums lost 0 0 Sin bin 0 TEAMS BENETTON: Smith 9; Padovani 8 (Marin 65, 6), Brex 8, Drago 7 (Riera 43, 7), Bellini 8; Albornoz 9, Braley 8 (Duvenage 62, 7); Gallo 8 (Nemer 57, 7), Nicotera 8 (Lucchesi 47, 7), Ferrari 8 (Chapparo 47, 7), Herbst 8 (N Cannone 52, 7), Ruzza 8, Pettinelli 8, Lamaro 8 (Halahifi 6-12), L Cannone 8 (Halahifi 62, 7). CARDIFF: Winnett 4; Lane 3 (Harries 70, 3), Grady 4 (Thomas 57, 3), Llewellyn 4, Cabango 4; Priestland 3, L Williams 4 (Bevan 62, 3); Carre 6 (Domachowski 54, 4), Dacey 3 (Daniel 54, 4), Arhip 4 (Lewis 47, 4), Davies 3, Screech 3 (T Williams 63, 3), Lewis-Hughes 3, Jenkins 3, Ratti 4 (Turnbull 57, 4) REFEREE: Eoghan Cross ATTENDANCE: 3,467 Star man Rhyno Smith - Benetton