The game is played at 2.00 pm, with a place in the championship playoffs up for grabs
URC: the Benetton-Edinburgh preview – ph. Benetton Rugby
It has been the mantra of the last few weeks, repeated until exhaustion: Benetton’s next match will be decisive for the playoff race.
Now, here we really are: the race for the United Rugby Championship playoffs is decided in Treviso, in an inside-out challenge between the green and whites and the Scottish franchise from Edinburgh.
It will be played at 2pm on Saturday 1 June (live on Sky Sport Arena, Sky Go and NOW) in a jubilant Monigo who can once again embrace their favorites after the trip to South Africa and give a further push towards qualification.
Edinburgh come into the match in good form: they have won 3 of their last 4 matches, losing their last match to Munster by just 3 points. It is a solid team, with a lot of physicality and quality concentrated in the forward department in particular.
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It is precisely in the challenge of the static phases between the two packages that much of the match will be played between the two teams, each in an attempt to nullify the qualities of the other, given that both know how to have their say with the ball in their hands. If Benetton can play on equal terms in an orderly scrum, Edinburgh seems to have something more in the throw-in than the Venetians.
Benetton faces a precise game from a tactical point of view, taking as few risks as possible in their own half of the pitch and trying to play in the opponent’s half, but doing so against a team that has a precise and powerful foot in Ben Healy and an excellent second in James Lang footballer will not be an easy task.
Last but not least the impact of the benches: the quality of the Treviso team in the last 20 minutes, when the substitutes came in full swing, made the difference many times, but Edinburgh arrives with a bench of substitutes full of experience and vitality .
Both teams will also be interested in the result of the contemporary Stormers-Lions match, where a possible victory for the hosts would remove the main threat of overtaking in the standings from the playoff race.
The calculations, however, should be made only after the eightieth round: the team that manages to obtain the victory and qualify for the final stages will also receive the right injection of confidence for the quarter-final to be played away in the next weekend.
Benetton: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Onisi Ratave, 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Andy Uren, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (c), 6 Alessandro Izekor, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Thomas Gallo
Available: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Edoardo Iachizzi, 20 Lorenzo Cannone, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Marco Zanon
Edinburgh: 15 James Lang, 14 Jake Henry, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ali Price, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Luke Crosbie, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Sam Skinner, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Available: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Mark Bennett
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