Benetton beat Italian rivals Zebre again

Benetton maintained their stranglehold on the Italian derby by dispatching Zebre 31-24 in the United Rugby Championship.

A seventh successive victory in the fixture continues Benetton’s superb start to the season, with their eight league matches producing six wins, a draw and only one defeat.

Zebre began strongly with Lorenzo Pani’s early try and controlled the final quarter, when Jacopo Bianchi and Leonard Krumov touched down.

But outside of these periods their defence was breached far too easily as Bautista Bernasconi, Tommaso Menoncello, Jacob Umaga and the impressive Paolo Odogwu all scored tries for Benetton.