Cardiff pay price for poor discipline

BENETTON became the first Italian side to reach the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup with former Wasps wing Marcus Watson scoring the crucial try.

- BEN JAYCOCK

Dai Young’s Cardiff, who are one place below Benetton in the URC standings, will rue their poor discipline, most notably in the first half as their European campaign came to a disappointing end.

Benetton flanker Michele Lamaro: “The boys were great, as were Cardiff. Our ground is our castle and that’s the way we step onto the field every time and we want to show our crowd we want to do something special for them and we did it.”

Rhys Priestland scored inside the first minute with a penalty, but Benetton dominated the opening stages, and it was only a textbook Thomas Young turnover that prevented the hosts from scoring the first try.

Priestland endured a difficult start producing inaccurate kicks from hand while his opposite number Jacob Umaga was on hand to slot back to-back penalties.

The home side’s early onslaught continued as Teddy Williams was sent to the sin bin for a cynical high tackle next to the try line.