European Challenge Cup: Benetton 23-9 Dragons - ninth defeat in 10 games for poor visitors
- Published
Dragons' only victory this season was against Connacht in the United Rugby Championship
European Challenge Cup |
|---|
Benetton (8) 23 |
Tries: Herbst, Padovani, Baravalle Cons: Smith Pens: Smith 2 |
Dragons (9) 9 |
Pen: S Davies 3 |
Dragons suffered a seventh successive defeat as they lost to Benetton in the European Challenge Cup.
Ira Herbst, Edoardo Padovani and Tomas Baravalle scored tries for the Italian hosts who dominated the second half.
Dragons could only respond with three Sam Davies penalties.
It was a ninth defeat in 10 matches for Dean Ryan's side this season and a third Challenge Cup loss means they now stand on the brink of European elimination.
Wales centre Jamie Roberts provided some attacking momentum for the Dragons in Italy but the visitors could not capitalise.
Any late hopes of a comeback were halted when replacement hooker Ellis Shipp was shown a yellow card.
This poor performance came in the Dragons' first game since 17 December with three Welsh derby matches in the United Rugby Championship called off because of Covid-19 issues.
Dragons had previously lost to Perpignan and Lyon in the first two Challenge Cup rounds.
The Gwent side have a European bye next weekend before hosting Gloucester in April with the top three making the last 16 along with the highest ranked of the three clubs that finish fourth.
Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan told S4C: "The second half was particularly frustrating. We never controlled the ball and they killed the momentum at the breakdown.
"We couldn't deal with the high ball from them and keep hold of it long enough. We will look back at that and unless we solve these issues, we won't impose the type of game we are trying to play.
"I am not looking at markers, I want performances which will build results.
"There have been times we have not been competitive and times we have. I don't know if we were competitive long enough today to warrant any sort of result for us."
Benetton: Padovani; Benvenuti, Brex, Morisi, Sperandio; Smith, Duvenage; Zani, Els, Pasquali, Herbst, Ruzza, Zuliani, Lamaro (capt), Halafihi.
Replacements: Baravalle, Nemer, Tetaz, Wegner, Steyn, Petrozzi, Marin, Drago.
Dragons: I Davies; Rosser, Owen, Roberts, Dyer; S Davies, Bertranou; Bateman, T Davies, Coleman, Rowlands, Carter, Keddie (capt), Basham, Wainwright.
Replacements: Shipp, Seiuli, Brown, Maksymiw, Taylor, Knoyle, Reed, Olowofela.
Referee: Ludovic Cayre (France)
Assistant referees: Adrien Marbot & Jonathan Gasnier (France)
TMO: Patrick Dellac (France)