United Rugby Championship: Benetton 36-19 Dragons - Italians secure bonus-point victory

Six-try Benetton consolidated hopes of a United Rugby Championship (URC) play-off place by comfortably defeating Dragons in Treviso.

Tries from Rhyno Smith, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Andy Uren, Onisi Ratave, Edoardo Iachizzi and Michele Lamaro secured the bonus-point win as the Italian side rose to fifth.

Dragons responded with tries from Jared Rosser, Dane Blacker and Che Hope.

Dai Flanagan's men remain 15th in the table with only Zebre below them.

Dragons have not won on the road since beating Pau in the Challenge Cup in January 2023, while their last URC away success was at Scarlets in April 2022.

Flanker Dan Lydiate led the side as one of six changes from the side that beat Zebre in March, while Wales hooker Elliot Dee was rested.

Benetton went go into the game on a high, having recorded back-to-back victories over Lions and Connacht to reach the Challenge Cup semi-final.

The hosts started strongly as full-back Smith made an impressive early burst before feeding wing Leonardo Marin who was denied a try by a last-ditch Cai Evans tackle.

The Benetton duo then combined for Smith to cross for a well-worked opening try. Benetton spurned further chances in the first half before hooker Lucchesi was driven over from a line-out.

Dragons were punished when a speculative Aneurin Owen pass was intercepted by scrum-half Uren who cantered away to score.

Benetton led 19-0 at half-time but Dragons wing Rosser ensured the visitors were on the scoresheet early in the second half when he intercepted Albornoz's pass.

Albornoz made amends when his cross-kick was collected by wing Ratave who powered through Evans to collect the bonus point.

Dragons, boosted by the introduction of Wales number eight Aaron Wainwright, again responded with a long-range opportunistic effort as scrum-half Blacker sprinted 80 metres to score.

But any hopes of a late Dragons comeback were dashed when replacement Iachizzi charged down Hope's kick to score.

Italy captain Lamaro completed the Benetton scoring against a tiring Dragons defence before replacement scrum-half Hope finished Rio Dyer's break for a consolation score.

Benetton captain Michele Lamaro: "It was tough to back up the performance from last week and I think we did it. We couldn't finish off all the opportunities we had but we showed we could be dangerous.

"We have to focus now on being ruthless because against other teams we won't have that many opportunities.

Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan: "I am bitterly disappointed. Our error rate was through the roof, our competitiveness was non-existent in the first half.

"We need to look at ourselves and start better. I thought some individuals stood up but this was an opportunity missed."

Benetton: Rhyno Smith; Leonardo Marin, Ignacio Brex, Marco Zanon, Onisi Ratave; Tomas Albornoz, Andy Uren; Mirco Spagnolo, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Giosué Zilocchi, Scott Scrafton, Riccardo Favretto, Sebastian Negri, Michele Lamaro (capt), Toa Halafihi.

Replacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Ivan Nemer, Tiziano Pasquali, Gideon Koegelenberg, Edoardo Iachizzi, Alessandro Izekor, Dewaldt Duvenage, Jacob Umaga.

Sin-bin: Smith (80)

Dragons: Cai Evans; Rio Dyer, Sio Tomkinson, Aneurin Owen, Jared Rosser; Will Reed, Dane Blacker; Rodrigo Martinez, James Benjamin, Luke Yendle, Ben Carter, George Nott, Dan Lydiate (capt), Sean Lonsdale, Taine Basham.

Replacements: Brodie Coghlan, Aki Seiuli, Dmitri Arhip, Harrison Keddie, Aaron Wainwright, Che Hope, Joe Westwood, Jordan Williams.

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

Assistant referees: Fillipo Russo (FIR), Alex Frasson (FIR)

TMO: Mark Patton (IRFU).