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Edinburgh fall to 14-man Benetton despite red card for former Wasp

By PA
(Photo by Paul Devlin/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Edinburgh failed to take advantage of the early sending-off of Benetton debutant Matteo Minozzi as they were beaten 24-17 by the Italians in the United Rugby Championship.

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Minozzi was dismissed for dangerous play after just 10 minutes at the Stadio Monigo on Saturday but the hosts – who had two spells with just 13 men – claimed a hard-fought, bonus-point win with tries from Marcus Watson, Sebastian Negri, Niccolo Cannone and Rhyno Smith.

Edinburgh twice fought back to level in the second half with Henry Immelman claiming a double but Smith’s score proved decisive as Benetton held on in a nervy finish.

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It was a gritty showing from the home side, who could hardly have made a worse start.

Charlie Savala landed a penalty to give Edinburgh a 3-0 lead but that was the least of Benetton’s problems as Minozzi was sent off after catching Wes Goosen in the head with a high boot.

The Italians responded well and enjoyed a prolonged spell of possession. They were confident enough to decline a penalty shot at goal and were rewarded when Tomas Albornoz sent Watson over in the corner with a cut-out pass.

Edinburgh were pinned back on their line as Benetton maintained the momentum and their task got harder when Goosen was sinbinned after a series of infringements.

Henry Pyrgos escaped a yellow card after being penalised for a deliberate knock-on but Benetton eventually broke through when Sebastian Negri touched down from a looping Dewaldt Duvenage pass.

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That gave Benetton a 10-3 interval lead but Edinburgh hit back after the break as a delayed pass from Savala brilliantly opened up the defence for Immelman to skip over a challenge and touch down.

With Savala converting, the scores were brought back to level but parity did not last long.

Benetton reclaimed the initiative when Cannone forced his way over and Albornoz’s first conversion of the afternoon established a seven-point cushion.

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Another twist followed as Benetton were reduced to 13 players when Federico Ruzza was sinbinned.

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Edinburgh made their two-man advantage count as Nick Haining broke a tackle and sent Immelman over out wide on the hour. Savala again added the extras but Edinburgh could not keep up the intensity.

A brilliantly-disguised and well-weighted chip over the top from Duvenage wrongfooted Edinburgh and Smith raced through to touch down for a try Jacob Umaga improved.

Smith became the second Benetton player sinbinned for a high tackle in the closing minutes but the hosts held on.

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J
JW 11 minutes ago
Super Rugby Pacific has turned the ship around in the right direction

LOL thats the same mentality the French saying about the Top 14. Why change their ridiculous comp if its performing well with investors?


There is always better JWH.


It depends really what you want out of Super Rugby and NPC. Currently Super Rugby fills both niche’s, it has the up and commers as well as the stars performing at the top. Reducing further obviously improves further on what has been the reason everybody is enjoying this season.


There is definitely a question of balance and what going further that way removes. But theres a few reasons. What coaches are telling us is it is also a struggle to find the talent to fill out a strong SR side. There is talk of increasing financial constraints. Currently there is a lopsided (random) amount of derby home and away match ups in each conference, so going 5v5 instead of 6v6 may mean we have a full derby round for each conference (currently I think they play just 3 teams twice), or even squeeze in a full dbl round comp. Going a larger number of teams means they need to go much larger to fairer league setup.


But they need to add or remove JWH, one or the other, and I was merely pointing out that adding, like you’re suggestion, is likely going to introduce just what we all (or at least what the person I was replying to was saying) think the comp has been remedied of, having a weak team. The 5v5 I referenced was 3 Aus teams, with the other two filling the landscape their, and 5 here. That’s what NZR wanted to kick off for the COVID year but ARU threw a hissy fit. If going to 10 is the right thing to do maybe it’s an NZ team that needs to be dropped, so Moana would remain here and Drua continue to be with the aussies, thats the other possible 5 v 5 setup (which would just be 10 if they found a way for all to play even games).

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