Benetton slay Dragons to inflict rare home defeat on the Welsh region

Benetton Rugby secured a 37-25 Guinness Pro14 bonuspoint win and condemned the Dragons to a first home defeat in all competitions since November.

Full-back Luca Sperandio, hooker Tomos Baravalle, wing Angelo Esposito and replacement Hame Faiva plus three penalties and four conversions from stand-off Ian Keatley saw the Italians home.

The Dragons had scrumhalf Rhodri Williams, fullback Will Talbot-davies and replacement hooker Elliot Dee to thank for tries, with standoff Jacob Botica kicking two penalties and a conversion, while his replacement Arwel Robson added one conversion.

Benetton hit the home side with a sucker punch within five minutes as Esposito linked with flanker Federico Ruzza for the back rower to send

Sperandio in from 22 metres. Keatley converted.

It soon got worse for the Welsh as the home pack were outmuscled and Baravalle emerged over the home line. Keatley added the extras.

But the Dragons began to chip away at the 14-0 lead as Benetton started to make mistakes within kickable distance for Botica. The standoff punished the Italians from 30 metres and added another three points on 22 minutes.

Benetton flexed their muscles again, and another Dragons mistake allowed Keatley to kick a penalty.

Just as it seemed the Dragons would turn around way down, prop Josh Reynolds produced an audacious sprint from halfway. As he ran out of steam, Williams was on his shoulder to race over under the posts. Botica’s converted.

A minute after the break Esposito ran 40 metres through Botica’s poor tackle, and Keatley converted.

It did not help the Dragons cause that flanker Harrison Keddie went to the sin bin for a no-arms tackle.

Two more Keatley penalties took Benetton up to 30 points. Yet a kick to the corner saw Esposito fumble the ball under pressure from wing Ashton Hewitt for Talbot-davies to pick up and fall over the line. A touchline conversion by Robson made it a 10-point game going into the final minutes. But Faiva’s converted try put the game to bed and Dee’s late try was only a consolation.