Following Benetton’s 31-42 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship clash.
Top line
Benetton put the Lions to the sword at the iconic Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon, running in five tries to the hosts’ four as their URC play-off chances got a real shot in the arm.
Jacob Umaga racked up an impressive 22 points, which included a try, three penalties and four conversions, to steer his side to victory with Igancio Mendy (2), Leonardo Marin and Federico Ruzza all crossing the whitewash for the Italian club.
Kade Wolhuter landed a mammoth 60-metre penalty and converted all four of his team’s tries, but that was not enough as the Lions will rue not making the most of Benetton’s ill-discipline as Ruzza, Siua Maile and Giosue Zilocchi all visited the sin bin.
Ruan Venter and Marius Louw grabbed tries in the first half for the Lions, with Edwill van der Merwe and JC Pretorius crossing in the second to secure the bonus point but that was not enough to really trouble the Italian outfit.
Benetton serve as a warning to Springboks
While the Lions team is not laden with Springboks in the same way the Bulls and Sharks are, they still have similar attributes to the national team and their struggles against an Azzurri-laden Benetton outfit, will not go unnoticed by the Bok coaching team.
Rassie Erasmus’ men will face Italy in Pretoria and Nelson Mandela Bay in July and while the Boks will be overwhelming favourites, the Italians will be eager to cause an upset and Benetton’s strong points on Saturday are the areas of the game they will target.
The Cannone brothers, Ruzza and Riccardo Favretto, made life hell for the Lions at lineout time which was not helped by pretty poor throws by PJ Botha on multiple occasions.
Jacob Umaga has been superb for the Italian club and while the fly-half doesn’t qualify for Italy, he did paint a good picture for Paolo Garbisi in how to play on the Highveld. He kicked superbly out of hand and caused the likes of Wolhuter, Edwill van der Merwe, Tapiwa Mafura and Quan Horn all kinds of issues in the backfield.
Meanwhile, the breakdown battle was ferocious with Manuel Zuliani and Favretto competing wonderfully and coming up with key penalty wins throughout the match. While Michele Lamaro is still the go-to in terms of captaincy, Zuilaini pushed him out of the starting XV at the end of the Six Nations and continues to do so in the Benetton set-up.
Brexoncello
The Italian centre pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello is quite simply world-class and it showed yet again. The Azzurri have classy operators throughout their squad, many of which play for Benetton, but perhaps only have one truly world-class partnership – the midfield.
They have a nigh-on telepathic understanding on both sides of the ball and it’s incredibly effective. Brex offers the smarts and slick handling while Menoncello adds the youth, pace, aggression and physicality with the pair seamlessly switching between 12 and 13 to add even more unpredictability.
The fact that the Lions struggled to breach the Benetton defence when the Italians were down two men due to yellow cards is an indication of just how excellent the pair are at not only organising the defence but executing it effectively too.
Bok Watch
As mentioned above, Erasmus and his coaching team will have kept a close eye on this fixture not only because of all the Italian stars featuring but possible Springboks too.
It was a real shame to see the in-form Lions skipper Francke Horn hobble off the pitch. With doubts about Jasper Wiese’s availability for the start of the international season and Elrigh Louw ruled out for the entire year, there is an opportunity for the local number eights to stick their hands up for selection and Horn is very much in the conversation but was unable to stamp his mark today.
Meanwhile, scrum-half Morne van den Berg did earn his debut last year for the men in Green and Gold but on today’s evidence, he will struggle to press for further caps in a positional where the Boks have real depth. He was spoken about highly but the coaching team last year and while he had flashes of brilliance against Benetton, that was overshadowed by a heinous amount of handling errors and failure to execute the basics.
At full-back, Horn did not have his most impactful match and did not produce a performance of the high standard he has set previously. He did cause havoc for Benetton with his restarts but struggled to influence the match with the ball in hand as he usually does.
On a more positive note, Ruan Venter emphatically laid down a marker. The Springboks are not short on options on the blindside flank highlighted by the fact that the Lions youngster impressed last year and earned just the one cap. Venter was the home team’s most effective ball carrier muscling his way to over 80 metres while being strong at the breakdown and on defence too.
While Venter has been invited to the Springbok alignment camps, his back-row partner JC Pretorius has not and puzzlingly so. There are obvious similarities between him and Kwagga Smith with their respective sevens backgrounds and playing styles. In defeat, he put in another performance akin to those Smith has become renowned for. He was brilliant over the ball, relentless on defence and energetic with ball in hand. He was duly rewarded with a late try in a shift that could well shift the coaching teams’ opinion of him.
Lions stumble in the Race to Eight
Victory in Johannesburg sees Benetton jump into fifth place in the standings for the time being and remain in the running for a spot in the URC playoffs.
According to the competition’s play-off probability predictor, it elevates their chances of making the last eight to 50% having started the weekend with just 25%. Sure they have a challenging clash up next taking on the Stormers in Cape Town but having doubled their chances, they will be inspired to claim another big result in the republic.
As for the hosts, their season is all but over with just an 8% chance of making the play-offs. It was yet another disappointing showing from the Lions who had started the season well but failed to rise to the occasion and close out the tight matches.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/lions-v-benetton-five-takeaways-as-italians-issue-a-warning-to-springboks-while-rookie-lays-down-a-marker-for-rassie-erasmus
