Jacob Umaga’s cameo off the bench led Benetton to a 25-24 victory in the United Rugby Championship against the Sharks at King’s Park in Durban on Saturday.
His replacement, Buck, converted a penalty in the 72nd minute to reduce the deficit to one point, before scoring his own try in the 78th minute to secure victory for the visitors.
His impact completed the turnaround for the Italian team, who were on the back foot for much of the game but kept their hopes of making the playoffs alive.
As for the Sharks, head coach John Plumtree supported many of his frontline players who were instrumental in their Challenge Cup semi-final victory over Clermont in this match, despite falling out of play-off contenders. But he will regret the decision after three Springboks starters left the field in the first half and another withdrew before kick-off.
Things got worse when center Murray Coster was shown a red card in the closing stages of the game, which Benetton took advantage of.
Sharks winger Werner Koch continued his try-scoring form, scoring twice in the match. Prop Ox Ntche also scored a try and full-back Afelele Fassi kept the scoreboard moving for the hosts.
In the end, however, Benetton won thanks to tries from Tommaso Menoncello, Gianmarco Lucchesi and Umaga.
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Benetton were quickest to come out of the blocks after flyhalf Leonardo Marin took advantage of a turnover to score a stunning goal at 50:22, pushing his team up the field. They kept the pressure on and were rewarded with a penalty by Marin just before the shot clock expired.
The Italian side had some success in the air in their early attacks, but the Sharks were the first to break through, with Siya Masuku playing a nice long pass to full-back Fassi, who threw a dummy for the opening try. In 15 minutes.
With injury concerns rapidly increasing and the Challenge Cup final against Gloucester looming, Plumtree and his coaching staff may regret the decision to go all in against URC. Vincent Koch limped off the pitch looking quite uncomfortable, quickly followed by lock Eben Ezebeth, who left for HIA and never returned. After this, fellow Springbok player Francois Venter withdrew from the starting lineup before kick-off and was replaced by Koster.
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Despite missing two Springbok forwards, the Sharks team put in the work and were rewarded with James Venter’s thunderous carry to get within a meter before Nchey scored.
It looked easy for the hosts from there, but their defense remained relatively solid until Juan Ignacio Brex’s trademark short ball saw Menoncello sprint past Lucaño Am and score the visitors’ first try of the match. I ran towards it.
This would be Am’s last appearance in the game, as he left the field with an injury as the Sharks held a 12-8 lead at halftime. Grant Williams, Ntche and Bongi Mbonambi were all substituted at half-time, presumably in response to injuries sustained in the first half.
Once again, the visitors were the quickest to get out of the blocks and hooker Lucchesi put Benetton ahead with a driving maul and a ball over the line.
But the lead was short-lived once again as Kock skinned Andy Ulen outside the Benetton 22 and overcame three tackles to score a brilliant try.
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Ten minutes later, Kok doubled the score, evading a tackle from Marco Zanon and finishing off a wonderfully flowing attack that started with Fassi’s superb catch of a high ball.
Benetton continued to put pressure on the Sharks’ defense and appeared to unlock it when their superb center Brex played a long pass to Igancio Mendy, but it was deemed to be a forward. He looked like he would score again shortly after a melee between Fassi and Makazole Mapimpi, but it was enough for Makazole Mapimpi to put Dewald Duvenage’s hand forward to deny him a try.
Umaga’s clutch penalty eventually brought Benetton within a point of the Sharks with the final knock of the match, and Coster was given his marching orders for the Italians.
Umaga started off with a brilliant touch kick, then slipped through the defense and scored a clutch kick to score the decisive try.
team
shark: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Koch, 13 Lukanyo Am (c), 12 Murray Koster, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Vincent Situka, 7 Garbrandt Grobler, 6 James Venter, 5 Kohn Lahr, 4 Eben Ezebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacement: 16 Fes Basa, 17 Ntukho Mchunu, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Rappy Labuschagne, 20 Tino Mabesele, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Diego Apolis
Benetton: 15 Rhino Smith, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Onisi Ratab, 10 Leonardo Marin, 9 Andy Woolen, 8 Lorenzo Canone, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Alessandro Isécole, 5 Eli Snyman (c), 4 Niccolo Canone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Federico Zani
Replacement: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Destiny Aminu, 18 Giosue Girocchi, 19 Edoardo Iacizzi, 20 Riccardo Favret, 21 Dewald Duvenage, 22 Jacob Umaga, 23 Marco Zanon
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Assistant referee: Morne Ferreira (SARU), Hanl van Rooyen (SARU)
TMO: Holly Davidson (SRU)
read more: Springboks: Peter-Steph du Toit’s only tackle he remembers in the Rugby World Cup final
