CARDIFF’S EURO DREAMS ENDED
DAI Young believes Benetton could bag Italy their first European silverware after they ended Cardiff’s hopes of glory in the Challenge Cup.
After the superb victory over English juggernauts Sale Sharks, many expected Young’s side to have too much for the Italian outfit.
But they were stopped in their tracks by a well-drilled home side who were playing in front of a capacity crowd.
Benetton now travel to Toulon in the semi-finals, with the Scarlets hosting Glasgow in the other lastfour encounter at the end of the month.
“They are a very good team, and they will cause lots of problems for many sides,” said Cardiff’s director of rugby.
“They’ve enjoyed some fantastic wins over top teams out here.”
After a poor opening 30 minutes, Cardiff recovered their composure and it looked at one stage as if they had done just about enough to sneak into the last four.
But eventually they ran out of steam.
Cardiff will now turn their full attention to making the United Rugby Championship play-offs.
There were some positive performances with Rhys Priestland immaculate from the kicking tee, while Mason Grady showed moments of class. But home advantage told in the end.
Priestland kicked Cardiff into the lead after a mere 95 seconds, but for the next half an hour Benetton were the only side in it.
The Italian side played with a real aggressive purpose as they tested Cardiff physically, while they were extremely innovative behind the scrum.
Italy international Tommaso Menoncello was especially prominent as he charged through some weak Cardiff defence in midfield to give his side front-foot ball.
Cardiff were penalised for not rolling away which allowed former
Wasps man Jacob Umaga to level the scores from the tee.
Umaga then proceeded to nudge the hosts into the lead before Cardiff were temporarily reduced to 14 men when Teddy Williams received a yellow card.
Elusive Benetton full-back Rhyno Smith put Sebastian Negri through a gap. The Italy international was charging towards the line before he offloaded to Dewaldt Duvenage who was brought down, but Williams illegally killed the ball.
Benetton turned down three points in a bid to make the most of their numerical advantage by taking a quick tap. After a period of sustained pressure they finally broke Cardiff’s defence with a lovely floating pass from Ignacio Brex sending Smith charging over for a try with Umaga adding the extras.
After what seemed like an age Cardiff finally got their hands on the ball and began to look dangerous when they put width on it.
The Welsh club hit back with a speculative kick through from Tomos Williams chased by Owen Lane. The ball didn’t stand up for the Wales international, but Thomas Young was on hand to score with Priestland converting from out wide which meant the visitors trailed 13-10 at the interval.
Cardiff made a strong start to the second-half with Priestland levelling the scores from the tee after some early pressure.
Then out of nowhere Cardiff struck for a sensational try as young Wales centre Grady burst through the defence to charge upfield.
The 20-year-old offloaded to Josh Adams who finished tremendously at the corner with Priestland successful with a superb conversion from the touchline.
But Benetton hit back by laying siege to the Welsh club’s line courtesy of their driving line-out, and after a few explosive carries Italy international Michele Lamaro powered over with Umaga adding the extras.
Cardiff threw the kitchen sink at their hosts in the closing stages and at one stage were held up by the hosts when it looked as if they had driven them over the line.
They went again as they tried desperately to cut open the home side’s defence with Max Llewellyn, Grady and Adams asking questions, but every time Benetton had an answer to Cardiff’s attacking game.
They continued to pressurise the Italian outfit but a resolute Benetton defence refused to buckle to end Cardiff’s interest in the competition this season.
A Graeme van Buuren century led a brilliant Gloucestershire comeback in their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Glamorgan in Cardiff to secure a creditable draw.
Having trailed by 239 runs after the first innings, Gloucestershire made 569-7 in their second innings to set Glamorgan 331 to win.
Three early wickets gave the visitors a slim chance of pulling off the unlikeliest of wins, but a solid stand between Billy Root and Eddie Byrom saw the home side to safety at 110-3.
The pitch in Cardiff continued to improve for the batters as the match wore on, with all the bowlers struggling to slow the scoring rate or claim wickets.
The draw gave Glamorgan 12 points and Gloucestershire eight.
Having started the day at 3735, Gloucestershire still had work to do to make the game safe. Van Buuren resumed on 36 and brilliantly held things together on his way to his fifth first-class ton for the county.
With support from Ollie Price, Zafar Gohar, Jack Taylor and Tom Price, van Buuren guided his team well past 500. That took Gloucestershire into a position where the draw was the most likely result and they had a chance – albeit a remote one – of pulling off a remarkable comeback win.
The real attacking intent came from Price, who backed up his excellent bowling performance in Glamorgan’s first innings with a 60-ball half-century.
Given how this pitch just got better for batting as the match progressed, Gloucestershire were perhaps understandably cautious with their declaration. When it did come they had set Glamorgan 331 to win in 46 overs.
With the required rate starting at above seven an over, it was always going to be a tough ask for Glamorgan to chase it down, but captain David Lloyd certainly showed some intent when he opened their second innings.
He had made it to six from five balls when he scooped a ball into the leg side off Price that was caught on the deep squareleg boundary by Marcus Harris.
Looking to attack against the high-class spin of Zafar was more difficult. The Pakistani slow left-armer was again given the new ball and he rewarded his captain with the wicket of Colin Ingram when he bowled him between bat and pad.
That left Glamorgan at 35-2 with 38 overs left to be bowled.
When Kiran Carlson poked at a ball from Price that was well taken on the second attempt by Taylor at first slip, it left Glamorgan 38-3 at the tea break.
With Gloucestershire now the team most likely to secure victory, they were impressive in the final session.
Zafar was the most consistent threat, but Marchant de Lange was also beating the bat regularly. But the pitch won out in the end, with the two teams shaking hands for the draw with nine overs left unbowled.
Glamorgan have a two-week wait until their next match against Durham, with Gloucestershire set to take on Yorkshire in Bristol on Thursday.
Both teams will feel they have a lot of positives to take from this game, especially given how the weather hampered pre-season preparations.