Rhyno gets Benetton charging to victory

RHYNO Smith scored 29 points including a hattrick of tries as Benetton comfortably saw off Italian rivals Zebre to secure a rare win in the URC.

The game was set to be played in early January but was postponed due to a Covid outbreak in the Benetton camp.

Smith scored all but 10 of the hosts’ points with three tries, four conversions and two penalties.

Zebre failed to create a sustained attack to answer the hosts, with a mere two tries for the Parma-based side not enough to answer their opposition’s five.

Smith opened the scoring early on with a fantastic line on the inside of Ignacio Brex, allowing the Italian international centre to pop the ball to the flying full-back for a try after just 49 seconds.

After converting his score, Edoardo Padovani joined the party with an effort of his own 17 minutes into the game.

This 14-0 lead was quickly reduced after Jacopo Trulla scored for Zebre, with Carlo Canna adding the conversion along with a penalty he slotted to claw his side back to 14-11

But after the interval, Smith decided he wasn’t done scoring and took the ball over the whitewash a further two times – the first from a kick in the opening minutes of the second period and then another by jinking in from the left.

He converted the extras on each occasion and added two penalties to extend the lead.

Zebre attempted to fight back with another Trulla try but the score did nothing but create a small dent in Benetton’s strong lead.

Winger Mattia Bellini crossed in the closing minutes to put the final nail in the coffin and secure their fifth win of the season and first since beating the Dragons back in January.