Pro14 Rainbow Cup: Cardiff Blues 37-12 Zebre

Cardiff Blues completed their season with a Pro14 Rainbow Cup victory over 14-man Zebre.

The home side managed tries from Gwilym Bradley, James Botham, Dan Fish, Harri Millard and a penalty try with Jarrod Evans adding 10 points.

Zebre battled back through tries from Pierre Bruno and Federico Mori scored before replacement Cristian Stoian was red carded.

The ill-disciplined visitors were also handed three yellow cards.

The scoreline suggests a compelling contest, but this stop-start affair was anything but as Zebre repeatedly gave away penalties and the television match official was continually brought into play.

It was the last match the team played under the name Cardiff Blues with the region rebranding to Cardiff Rugby from 1 August, 2021.

The home side had rested 2021 British and Irish Lions wing Josh Adams for the game, which was again played behind closed doors, with the Welsh government saying crowds will be allowed back at sporting stadiums from Monday, 7 June.

Evans opened the scoring with a penalty before hooker Oliviero Fabiani was yellow carded for collapsing a maul.

The hosts immediately took advantage with a first try for flanker Bradley followed by a Botham score as Blues scored 12 points with the extra man.

Wing Fish, who had impressed with his left-foot kicking, was the beneficiary of a flowing move involving full-back Matthew Morgan for the third try.

Zebre battled back with a well-worked try for wing Bruno after a clever delayed pass from Italy fly-half Carlo Canna, who also converted the score just before half-time.

The Italian side produced an even more impressive effort at the start of the second-half with centre Mori sprinting away to score.

Zebre were again reduced to 14 men as prop Daniele Rimpelli was shown a yellow card for an illegal ruck clear-out on Cardiff Blues captain Josh Turnbull.

The controversial captain's challenge, one of the trial laws introduced in the Pro14 Rainbow Cup, once more slowed up the game as both sides failed with attempts to gain penalties.

Evans kicked a penalty before Stoian was shown a red card for an illegal clear-out on the head of Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams.

Zebre were reduced to 13 men after Canna was sin-binned for deliberately slapping the ball out of play with Blues awarded a penalty try as they secured a bonus point.

A rare moment of class saw centre Ben Thomas release replacement wing Millard for the fifth try before referee Ben Blain mercifully blew the whistle to end an agonising affair that lasted more than two hours. The second-half lasted 67 minutes.

Cardiff Blues director of rugby Dai Young: "It was a messy game. Before the match you would have probably settled for that score but it was very stop-start.

"There were some good things from us but it was not the performance we wanted, although it was the result.

"The game lacked momentum with captain's challenges and lots of interventions from the TMO.

"It (captain's challenge) is not for me. It's only a personal opinion but I don't see what it's bringing to the game. It is slowing things down, it is very tit-for-tat so not something I am in favour of."

Cardiff Blues: Matthew Morgan; Jason Harries, Willis Halaholo, Ben Thomas, Dan Fish; Jarrod Evans, Lloyd Williams; Corey Domachowski, Liam Belcher, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Cory Hill, James Botham, Gwilym Bradley, Josh Turnbull (capt).

Replacements: Kirby Myhill, Rhys Carre, Dmitri Arhip, Rory Thornton, Alun Lawrence, Tomos Williams, Harri Millard, Rey Lee-Lo.

Zebre: Michelangelo Biondelli; Pierre Bruno, Federico Mori, Enrico Lucchin, Giovanni D'Onofrio; Carlo Canna, Guglielmo Palazzani (capt); Daniele Rimpelli, Oliviero Fabiani, Eduardo Bello, Samuel Ortis, Leonard Krumov, Maxime Mbanda, Iacopo Bianchi, Renato Giammarioli.

Replacements: Marco Manfredi, Paolo Buonfiglio, Matteo Norcera, Cristian Stoian, Giovanni Licata, Nicole Casilio, Jacopa Trulla, Filippo Di Marco.

Referee: Ben Blain (SRU)

Assistant referees: Dan Jones, Mike English (both WRU)

TMO: Ian Davies (WRU).