Scrum failures see Connacht stumble to high-flying Italians

Benetton 20

Connacht 12

By Rob Murphy

WHAT do you need to know here? Connacht lost a game they should have won in Italy on Saturday evening and while that was disappointing, it wasn’t by any means the worst piece of news to emerge from Treviso with Denis Buckley’s serious knee injury and a third red card of the season for Abraham Papali’i turning a bad evening into a calamitous one.

Somewhere in Italy, there’s a report on this game that will rightly praise the Benetton side for a gutsy and well crafted win that keeps them unbeaten in this end of season Rainbow Cup competition. After a long tough campaign of narrow defeats, including a heartbreaker against Connacht back in February, this was a joyous evening for the side from the city just 45 minutes outside of Venice.

Local reports will no doubt cover their brilliant young front row that dominated Connacht without Buckley’s experience. 22 year-old Argentinian born rising star Thomas Gallo was immense at loosehead prop as was 23 year-old  tighthead prop Marco Riccioni who already has 15 caps for Italy and has been signed with Saracens for next season. Behind them, Frederico Ruzza in the second row and Michele Lamaro in the back row stood out. The entire pack thrived to keep the Italian side in the hunt for a Rainbow Cup final spot and end Connacht’s slim hopes in the process.

So even if this was a dreadfully dull game of rugby with little or no continuity from either side, the perspective from Italy will rightly be one of praise for a side full of rising young stars that came behind twice thanks to a try from Ignaicio Brex and the excellent kicking from 21 year-old Paolo Garbisi.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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