Benetton break Champions Cup duck

MATCH REPORT: Benetton snatched their first win in Pool 1 of the Champions Cup after Marco Lazzaroni’s dramatic try edged them to a thrilling 25-22 win over Lyon in Treviso.

Lyon were moving towards their second victory in this season’s competition as they led 22-18 after a see-saw struggle but replacement Lazzaroni proved to be the unlikely hero as he finished off a neat move to score under the posts and Antonio Rizzi’s conversion eight minutes from time proved decisive.

Winless Benetton had made a near perfect start as they notched two tries in the opening 14 minutes to build up a 12-0 lead.

Wing Leonard Sato went over first after a smart inside ball from Denaldt Duvenage before Australian wing Monty Ioane supported a break from Luca Morisi to sprint over and Ian Keatley converted.

Lyon finally got into gear and were ahead by half-time as first flank Liam Kill plunged over from a driving maul and six minutes later former All Black centre Rudi Wulf showed his power to cross with flyhalf Patricio Fernandez adding both conversions.

Lyon centre Pierre-Louis Barassi looked to have settled it 15 minutes from time when he powered over wideout and the conversion give them a four-point buffer but the battling Italian outfit were not to be denied.

Benetton travel to Northampton next on Sunday, January 12 while Lyon visit Leinster on the same day.

The scorers:

For Benetton:

Tries: Sarto, Ioane, Lazzaroni

Cons: Keatley, Rizzi

Pens: Keatley 2

For Lyon:

Tries: Gill, Wulf, Barassi

Cons: Fernandez 2

Pen: Fernandez

Teams:

Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Leonardo Sarto, 13 Ratuva Tavuyara, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Ian Keatley, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage (captain), 8 Braam Steyn, 7 Giovanni Pettinelli, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Ira Herbst, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Cherif Traore.

Replacements: 16 Federico Zani, 17 Nicola Quaglio, 18 Michele Mancini Parri, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Marco Barbini, 22 Tito Tebaldi, 23 Antonio Rizzi.

Lyon: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Ethan Dumortier, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Rudi Wulf, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Pato Fernandez, 9 Jonathan Pélissié (captain), 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Patrick Sobela, 5 Etienne Oosthuizen, 4 Killian Geraci, 3 Clément Ric, 2 Jeremie Maurouard, 1 Vivien Devisme.

Replacements: 16 Badri Alkhazashvili, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Hamza Kaabèche, 19 Tanginoa Halaifonua, 20 Virgile Bruni, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Xavier Mignot, 23 Jonathan Wisniewski.

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)

Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Anthony Woodthorpe (England)

TMO: Sean Davey (England)

Source: @ChampionsCup