Challenge Cup: Benetton Rugby’s race ends in Gloucester

For the second consecutive year Benetton Rugby’s adventure in the Challenge Cup ends in the semi-final.

The men coached by Marco Bortolami lost 40 to 23 against Gloucester, the second-to-last team in the Premiership, but very square and able to exploit every opportunity in this knockout clash.

The match recorded 8 total tries, a perfect snapshot of 80 minutes in which we saw valuable actions and decisive errors.

Benetton ended the first half trailing 15 to 11, then the gap narrowed at the start of the second half and finally Gloucester’s forcing in the central part of the second half, a phase in which the English secured their ticket to the final from London.

The news of Gloucester-Benetton Rugby

In Gloucester the home team started very strong and showed that they wanted to win the match immediately. In the 6th minute Benetton found itself forced to manage a melee in the twenty-two defensive metres. Gloucester puts pressure, recovers the oval and as the transition develops, Chris Harris feeds Josh Hathaway with a poisonous grubber that ends up in the hands of the English full-back. Hastings doesn’t convert, in the seventh minute it’s 5-0.

Benetton responds in the 15th minute, when Albornoz converts a free kick which seals a good green and white multi-phase move into the opponent’s half of the pitch. Gloucester four minutes later, from the pitch with Hastings, brings his team back up to 8-3.

Albornoz scores again with 3 points from a free kick in the 22nd minute, but the long-distance play of the two players is interrupted in the 30th minute, when Seb Blake scores a drive perfectly triggered by the cherry & white scrum package. Hastings converts and the gap widens to 15-6.

Benetton can count on an important numerical superiority in the 34th minute, when Zach Mercer gets a yellow card for tripping. Bortolami’s men immediately exploited the advantage and sent Ratave into the goal with a beautiful, unmarked pass made by Garbisi. But first there is a push from Menoncello on Hastings without the ball and the referee Amashukeli cancels everything.

Rhyno Smith takes care of it a couple of minutes later and lights up the Kingsholm Stadium. Halafihi starts powerfully from the base of the scrum, makes many meters and puts all his teammates on the forward foot. The superiority on the outside is evident, first Negri, then Ratave, use their hands quickly to free the run of the South African goalkeeper who smashes the ball into the goal to make it 15 to 11 which closes the first half.

The second half sees a very enterprising Benetton immediately looking for the goal. A few too many smudges prevent the signature of the overtaking from being marked. Gloucester instead hit the posts at the first opportunity with Hastings due to an opponent offside. In the 48th minute the stadium scoreboard read 18 to 11.

Treviso has all but disappeared from the field. He proves it in the 54th minute, when Lucchesi launches a perfect throw and ends up at the tail end of an unstoppable drive. The Tuscan hooker scores the goal to make it 18 to 16, not converted by Albornoz.

The sharp Italian was neutralized shortly after, when Adam Hastings finished a move triggered by a dubious pass from Zach Mercer. The inertia at this point is entirely on the side of the hosts. In the 62nd minute Clarke intercepted a poorly managed ball from Benetton and flew between the posts for 32 to 16.

Lamaro and his teammates don’t want to give up, so in the 66th minute another goal arrives, again scored by Lucchesi, again from a drive following a throw-in. Albornoz is precise and in the 67th minute the score is 32 to 23. Two minutes later Caolan Englefield extinguishes Treviso’s comeback ambitions when he sends a long-range free kick between the posts.

In the last ten minutes Gloucester contained Benetton’s attacks and in the 78th minute managed to score another try with Ollie Thorley for the final 40-23.

The scoreboard of Gloucester-Benetton

Gloucester: 15 Josh Hathaway, 14 Jonny May, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Caolan Englefield, 8 Zach Mercer, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Mayco Vivas
Available: 16 Santi Socino, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Albert Tuisue, 20 Jack Clement, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Alex Hearle

Free kicks: 19′, 48′, 69′ Englefield
Tries: Hathaway 6′, Blake 29′, Hastings 59′, Clarke 62′, Thorley 78′
Conversions: 30′, 58′, 63′ Hastings.

Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Onisi Ratave, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Scott Scrafton, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Thomas Gallo
Available: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Edoardo Iachizzi, 21 Alessandro Izekor, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Leonardo Marin

Free kicks: 15′, 22′ Albornoz
Goals: 39′ Smith, 54′, 66′ Lucchesi
Conversions: 67′ Albornoz

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