Rugby, Benetton Treviso challenges Cardiff for the Europe that counts

TREVISO. A great sporting occasion, a test of maturity also for all of Italian rugby: in a Monigo stadium that has been sold out for days, Benetton Treviso faces the Welsh Cardiff Blues tomorrow (4 pm, live on Sky Sport Arena) in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Club, the second European oval club competition. Straight match, whoever wins goes to the semifinals. On the other side of the scoreboard, Sergio Parisse’s Toulon faces Lyon at the stade Mayol: if the guests pass – provided that the green-and-white Lions give us another joy – the next round would still be played in Veneto. The final? Friday 19 May at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Whatever happens, no Italian training had ever reached this high.

Bortolami: “Discipline will be fundamental”

“Discipline will be fundamental”, warns Marco Bortolami, former blue captain and now coach of Treviso. He doesn’t forget the disturbing collection of fouls (17 against 5) committed 2 months ago in Cardiff, when Benetton suffered a heavy defeat against the Blues (13-30) in the Urc championship. “An Englishman will referee us, Pearce, and for that reason we will have to be even more careful.” He underlines the qualities of the opponents: “They have a defense that rises very quickly and takes up space, they are particularly effective with the scrum in orderly phases. We’ll have to be lucid from start to finish.” There will be no Ferrari prop, while Lorenzo Cannone has recovered.

Menoncello: “Monigo our extra man”

Most of the national team’s players come from Treviso: the club’s successes are a boost of confidence for the whole movement. Tommaso Menoncello was one of the protagonists in the recent Six Nations. “Tomorrow Monigo’s audience will be our extra man,” says the young center. Six thousand and more spectators. “The home factor can influence the result. It also happened the other week against Connacht: our fans gave us an extra push.” It is a moment of great enthusiasm and confidence, testified by the club’s results and market choices: next season there will also be Tongan Malakai Fekitoa, already world champion with the All Blacks in 2015 and today with the Irish team of Munster, while the best green-and-whites (last in order of time, Zuliani) have all renewed their contracts.

In case of victory, there is a Frenchwoman in the semifinals

Benetton Treviso’s Challenge adventure – which lifted the Rainbow Cup in 2021 – had started badly: a defeat with something to complain about in Paris with Stade Français (14-24), then beaten at home 35-32; in the second round, overwhelming success in Bayonne (45-7) replicated in Monigo (26-7). Then, the round of 16 in Veneto with the dazzling victory over the Irish franchise from Connacht: 41-19. A defeat and 3 victories also for the Cardiff Blues, who in the first phase annihilated the English Newcastle Falcons and equalized the score with the French side of Brive, before overcoming the English Sale Sharks by a whisker in Cardiff (28-27).

Benetton Treviso, training:

Rhyno Smith – Edoardo Padovani, Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Marcus Watson – Jacob Umaga, Dewaldt Duvenage – Henry Time-Stowers, Michele Lamaro, Sebastian Negri – Federico Ruzza, Niccolò Cannone – Tiziano Pasquali, Giacomo Nicotera, Nahuel Tetaz. Subs: Siua Maile, Thomas Gallo, Filippo Alongi, Riccardo Favretto, Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone, Alessandro Garbisi, Tomas Albornoz.