United Rugby Championship: Cardiff 22-23 Benetton - Late Ciaran Parker red card hands visitors win

Liam Belcher scored the first of Cardiff's three tries

Cardiff's Ciaran Parker was sent off on his debut to hand Benetton a dramatic late winning penalty at the Arms Park.

New head coach Matt Sherratt looked on course for a perfect start when Cardiff led 19-3 in the first half.

Liam Belcher, Rhys Carre and Ellis Bevan all scored in the space of 13 minutes to put the hosts in control.

But Gianmarco Lucchesi and Tomas Albomoz crossed in either half for the Italians before Jacob Umaga's 79th-minute penalty snatched the win.

It was a cruel blow for Cardiff who had led from the 18th minute despite a squad including five debutants.

Despite a partial power failure at the Arms Park that left one end in darkness, there was no lack of early potency up front for the hosts.

Cardiff showed ambition with Cameron Winnett impressing at full-back, Seb Davies carrying with impact after his move to number eight and new fly-half Tinus De Beer steady at fly-half.

But it was their pack that had the biggest impact with front-row pair Belcher and Carre responding to an early Benetton penalty with tries.

Hooker Belcher finished a lineout drive marshalled by young Wales squad member Teddy Williams, before prop Carre used all his strength to haul himself over the line on 26 minutes.

Young scrum-half Bevan touched down for a third just five minutes later - created by the tackling of Rey Lee-Lo and handling of Owen Lane and De Beer.

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However, De Beer saw his conversion ruled out after running out of time, though he was not helped by the lack of a screen due to the partial blackout.

Benetton's pack struck back through hooker Lucchesi before half-time and Umaga landed a penalty to cut the deficit to 19-13 early in the second half.

De Beer pulled off a last-ditch try-saving tackle before kicking a penalty that appeared to have steadied the hosts.

However, replacement Albomoz rose higher than anyone to gather a high kick and came down with a clear run to the line for Benetton's second try, with Umaga's conversion setting up a thrilling final 13 minutes with the Italians trailing 22-20.

Cardiff looked to have weathered the closing stages until prop Parker - just 23 minutes after coming off the bench - put his shoulder straight into the chin of Simone Ferrari.

Italy prop Ferrari was knocked clean off his feet and had to be carried off, and referee Frank Murphy had no hesitation to show the red card and hand Umaga his late penalty winner.

Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said:

"We've been on the other side of those late kicks on occasion and it's important not to judge an entire game on one moment.

"We were really good in the first half, our set piece and defence were excellent and we took our chances well. But we need to look at why we couldn't keep it going in the second half.

"Ciaran (Parker) actually did very well when he came on and made a real impact but that error is unfortunate, especially when there was just 90 seconds left. It's just about learning technique but we have no complaints about the red."

Cardiff: C Winnett; O Lane, R Lee-Lo, W Halaholo, T Cabango; T de Beer, E Bevan; R Carre, L Belcher (capt), K Assiratti, S Lewis-Hughes, T Williams, A Mann, E Jenkins, S Davies.

Replacements: E Daniel, J Reynolds, C Parker, R Thornton, L de la Rua, M Aubrey, A Robson, H Millard.

Benetton: R Smith; I Mendy, J Riera, F Drago, E Padovani; J Umaga, A Uren; M Spagnolo, G Lucchesi, G Zilocchi, G Koegelenberg, E Snyman, A Izekor, M Zuliani, H Time-Stowers.

Replacements: B Bernasconi, F Zani, S Ferrari, E Iachizzi, T Halafihi, D Duvenage, T Albornoz, M Zanon

Referee: Frank Murphy (IRFU)

Assistant referees: Mike English & Gwyn Morris (WRU)

TMO: Mark Patton (WRU)

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