Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'Fooled us into thinking SA Rugby is better': Benetton's dominant Rainbow Cup win a big reality check for SA teams in Europe

(Photo by Roberto Bregani/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

The South African champion Bulls have been outclassed 35-8 by Italian club Benetton in the final of the Rainbow Cup in Treviso in a shock upset that has stunned the rugby world.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Italians struck early in just five minutes after a wide attack before building a 20-8 lead by halftime. Benetton continued to pile on points in the second, stretching the lead to 30-8 after a try to Lamaro and a penalty goal. Another try added more misery for the Bulls, who had two late tries disallowed.

The final was the first match for a South African club against an international club since the abrupt end of the 2020 Super Rugby competition. The result shocked South African rugby fans and European fans alike, with few expecting the Italian club to win let alone put a massive score on the Bulls.

Before the Rainbow Cup, Benetton completed a winless 16-game season in the Pro14, where the Bulls, Stormers, Lions and Sharks will now compete in the United Rugby Championship.

Concerned about ramifications for the new competition, one fan wrote he ‘slightly worried that these South African sides may not actually strengthen the league as much as we thought’. Another commented that the Bulls were ‘too easy to defend, too predictable and dull’.

An Irish fan wrote that the Bulls ‘were lucky they weren’t playing Leinster or this would be a cricket score’.

Another South African commented ‘if that’s a preview of what’s to come with the British & Irish Lions, we are screwed’. Another felt that ‘international competition is needed’ after the pandemic has ‘fooled us’ into thinking SA Rugby is better than it is.

ADVERTISEMENT

https://twitter.com/TonyMfariwapiki/status/1406310520941129731

ADVERTISEMENT

The South African style of playing for penalties and working for driving mauls came completely unstuck against the high-tempo Italian team.

How the South African teams will fare against the rest of the Pro14 teams is now in question, particularly with differing styles of sides likes powerhouse Leinster who play a high possession attacking game.

During Super Rugby Unlocked last season, former Springbok coach Nick Mallett and Lions head coach Swys de Bruin were heavily critical of the state of the domestic game.

“It’s difficult not to be a little bit negative on the performances of our teams quite frankly,’ Mallett said on a post-game SuperSport show.

“If you compare it with the way New Zealand cracked in with their Aotearoa competition, with teams really embracing the quick-ruck ball and ball-in-hand style they were reasonably high-scoring games, but the defences were excellent and their attacks were great.

“It was rugby that was worth watching.”

Former Springbok assistant De Bruin agreed, deriding how predictable the game was with scrum reset after reset.

“It’s almost like a storybook now… I can see there’s a scrum that will reset and reset again, then the advantage will come, then the next chapter is the penalty,” he said.

“From there the maul starts. Before the maul there is a little meeting with forwards that eats up more time.”

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 37 | Six Nations Round 4 Review

Cape Town | Leg 2 | Day 2 | HSBC Challenger Series 2025 | Full Day Replay

Gloucester-Hartpury vs Bristol Bears | PWR 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

Why did Scotland's Finn Russell take the crucial kick from the wrong place? | Whistle Watch

England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jahmirwayle 1 hour ago
Crusaders rookie earns 'other than Dupont' praise from All Blacks star

It started with a gut-wrenching realization. I’d been duped. Months earlier, I’d poured $133,000 into what I thought was a golden opportunity a cryptocurrency investment platform promising astronomical returns. The website was sleek, the testimonials glowed, and the numbers in my account dashboard climbed steadily. I’d watched my Bitcoin grow, or so I thought, until the day I tried to withdraw it. That’s when the excuses began: “Processing delays,” “Additional verification required,” and finally, a demand for a hefty “release fee.” Then, silence. The platform vanished overnight, taking my money with it. I was left staring at a blank screen, my savings gone, and a bitter taste of shame in my mouth.I didn’t know where to turn. The police shrugged cybercrime was a black hole they couldn’t navigate. Friends offered sympathy but no solutions. I spent sleepless nights scouring forums, reading about others who’d lost everything to similar scams. That’s when I stumbled across a thread mentioning a group specializing in crypto recovery. They didn’t promise miracles, but they had a reputation for results. Desperate, I reached out.The first contact was a breath of fresh air. I sent an email explaining my situation dates, transactions, screenshots, everything I could scrape together. Within hours, I got a reply. No fluff, no false hope, just a clear request for more details and a promise to assess my case. I hesitated, wary of another scam, but something about their professionalism nudged me forward. I handed over my evidence: the wallet addresses I’d sent my Bitcoin to, the emails from the fake platform, even the login credentials I’d used before the site disappeared.The process kicked off fast. They explained that scammers often move funds through a web of wallets to obscure their tracks, but Bitcoin’s blockchain leaves a trail if you know how to follow it. That’s where their expertise came in. They had tools and know-how I couldn’t dream of, tracing the flow of my coins across the network. I didn’t understand the technical jargon hash rates, mixing services, cold wallets but I didn’t need to. They kept me in the loop with updates: “We’ve identified the initial transfer,” “The funds split here,” “We’re narrowing down the endpoints.” Hours passed , and I oscillated between hope and dread. Then came the breakthrough. They’d pinpointed where my Bitcoin had landed a cluster of wallets tied to the scammers. Some of it had been cashed out, but a chunk remained intact, sitting in a digital vault the crooks thought was untouchable. I didn’t ask too many questions about that part; I just wanted results. They pressured the right points, leveraging the blockchain evidence to freeze the wallets holding my funds before the scammers could liquidate them. Next morning, I woke up to an email that made my heart skip. “We’ve secured access to a portion of your assets.” Not all of it some had slipped through the cracks but $133,000 worth of Bitcoin, my original investment, was recoverable. They walked me through the final steps: setting up a secure wallet, verifying the transfer, watching the coins land. When I saw the balance tick up on my screen, I sat there, stunned. It was real. My money was back.The ordeal wasn’t painless. I’d lost time, sleep, and a bit of faith in humanity. But the team at Alpha Spy Nest Recovery turned a nightmare into a second chance.  I’ll never forget what they did. In a world full of thieves, they were the ones who fought to make things right. Contacts below: email: Alphaspynest@mail.com, WhatsApp: +14159714490‬, Telegram: https://t.me/Alphaspynest

8 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Four England talking points after their Six Nations rout of Wales Four England talking points after their Six Nations rout of Wales
Search