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Benetton maintain perfect Rainbow Cup record after fresh red for Papali'i

By PA
(Photo by Getty Images)

Benetton maintained their flawless tournament record with a 20-12 victory over 14-man Connacht in the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup.

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Unbeaten in the tournament going into the game, Benetton extended their winning run with an impressive physical performance against Connacht, who finished with 14 men after Abraham Papali’i’s 73rd-minute red card.

Benetton’s dominance of the scrum limited Connacht’s chances throughout the game, especially in the second half, with the visitors unable to add to the scoreline after their 42nd-minute try.

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Paolo Garbisi, who made six kicks from six two weeks ago, also had a good game despite a slightly less impressive record with five successful penalty kicks.

Despite Connacht scoring two tries to Benetton’s one, it was not to be for the Irish side, with some resolute defending denying them just metres from the line just before the half-time break.

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C
CO 1 hour ago
Whose ship has sailed before the first All Blacks squad?

Based on last weekend there should be no Hurricanes loose forwards in the mix, they all seemed poor with the Brumbies once again fantastic at playing and executing as a team. The Hurricanes were also poor in the halves with the ten invisible and Cam Roigard trying to play up tempo, Helter skelter rugby which is what the Brumbies wanted.


Roigards passing was telegraphic with his running game and sniping non existent, Ratima also appears to be getting metronomic, devoid of flair and his ten went invisible as well.


If you can't step up at finals then you need to be punished, yes the blues were poor at times this season but they were right on either the last two games when it really matters.


CWL is a bit larger but both him and Lakai are down on size for an eight and aren't freaks like Savea. Sotutu has to be in the mix and Dalton, but only if they front this Friday night.


However six is an ongoing issue, Josh Beehre could be an answer to the lack of height in the loose forwards at Allblacks level, his driving try to ice the contest through a decent Chiefs pack was raw determination even with support.


As for the previous try being ruled out on the flimsiest of technicalities that highlighted everything wrong with the TMO, it wasn't ‘rabbiting’, his knees dropped one after the other and he then brought his shoulders forward to extend and score, big guys can do that, that's why Sotutu has to be in the mix.


Sititi looked short of a gallop and the Chiefs might be acting a bit too cute with their bench, the coach is saying all the right things but he's in the departure lounge and the signs are there that the Chiefs expected to be the best team in finals simply because they had the best bench.


They're now under the pump and the winner of this year's super final will almost certainly be whoever wins this Friday in Christchurch.

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