{"id":7927,"date":"2026-01-31T11:49:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/31\/scarlets-draw-in-benetton-fog-after-chaotic-finale\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T11:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:19:20","slug":"scarlets-draw-in-benetton-fog-after-chaotic-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/01\/31\/scarlets-draw-in-benetton-fog-after-chaotic-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Scarlets draw in Benetton fog after chaotic finale"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Published12 minutes ago<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#comments\">Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>United Rugby Championship<\/p>\n<p>Benetton (13) 20<\/p>\n<p>Tries: Odogwu, Garbisi Cons: Smith, Farias Pens: Smith 2<\/p>\n<p>Scarlets (3) 20<\/p>\n<p>Tries: G Davies, T Lewis, Page Con: Leggatt-Jones Pen: Leggatt-Jones<\/p>\n<p>Scarlets and Benetton shared the spoils in a dramatic United Rugby Championship draw in the Treviso fog.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides missed late kicks &#8211; with teenage Scarlets fly-half Carwyn Leggatt-Jones failing with a routine conversion &#8211; and had to settle for two points each in a game that was completed despite the testing conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Benetton led 13-3 after eight points from the boot of Rhyno Smith and a try by Italy centre Paolo Odogwu.<\/p>\n<p>Former Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies went over soon after the restart in heavy fog and the visitors hit the front in the 57th minute through wing Tomi Lewis.<\/p>\n<p>Scarlets \u2013 who already have a game to catch up at Connacht following a round two postponement \u2013 were pleased that referee Andrew Brace was happy to continue despite the challenging circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>Scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi sniped over for a classy try with nine minutes to go to put Benetton 20-15 in front, but wing Macs Page levelled, only for Leggatt-Jones to miss the conversion next to the posts.<\/p>\n<p>There was still time for Nicolas Roger Farias to narrowly miss with a pair of long-range efforts for the hosts, who have not lost to Welsh opposition at Stadio Monigo since October 2021.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/c0eryd1gqnxo\">\n<p>We&#x27;ll do whatever it takes for Ospreys &#8211; Williams<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published1 day ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cvgj5kv8eneo\">\n<p>The small ex-Wales U20s captain proving a big URC hit<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published16 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/articles\/cre2pnpvxjgo\">\n<p>Ospreys return for Wales prop Thomas against Dragons<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published9 hours ago<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In a test of both sides&#x27; squad depth before the Six Nations, the first half was scrappy with Benetton full-back Smith missing an early penalty and then striking two over in response to Leggatt-Jones&#x27; opener.<\/p>\n<p>The Italians suffered a pre-match blow with the loss of Tonga centre Malakai Fekitoa and then lost strong-running number eight So&#x27;otala Fa&#x27;aso&#x27;o, but gradually turned the screw.<\/p>\n<p>Pressure paid off as half-time approached when seven-times capped centre Odogwu, released from Italy&#x27;s squad, jinked over from close range.<\/p>\n<p>Scarlets had the chance to respond swiftly, but failed with a pair of driving line-outs in the corner to trail by 10 points at the break.<\/p>\n<p>They quickly cut into that when veteran scrum-half Davies sniped over after a typically strong carry by the excellent number eight Fletcher Anderson, Leggatt-Jones converting.<\/p>\n<p>Scarlets went into a 15-13 lead in the 57th minute when Lewis crossed from Leggatt-Jones&#x27; superb pass to the left wing before referee Andrew Brace, after consulting with his fellow officials, was convinced to keep going.<\/p>\n<p>The visitors were held up over the line as they tried to make it a two-score game and that proved to be crucial.<\/p>\n<p>Hard Benetton carrying in the 22 opened up a weak spot at a ruck for Garbisi to finish superbly, with Roger Farias adding the extras.<\/p>\n<p>The Scarlets response was superb with Leggatt-Jones getting to Dane Blacker&#x27;s dink over the top to put Page over, only for the 18-year-old stand-off to miss the routine conversion.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully for the visitors, Roger Farias was also off target with two late long-range chances from the tee.<\/p>\n<h2>How they lined up<\/h2>\n<p>Benetton: Smith; Mendy, Odogwu, Drago, Ratave; Farias, Uren (capt); Gallo, Maile, Gallorini, Marini, Snyman, Izekor, Kingi, Fa&#x27;aso&#x27;o.<\/p>\n<p>Replacements: Bernasconi, Aminu, Pasquali, Scrafton, Casartelli, Garbisi , Gallagher, Medina.<\/p>\n<p>Scarlets: J Davies; Page, Roberts, Williams (capt), Lewis; Leggatt-Jones, G Davies; Hepburn, Van der Merwe, Holz, Price, Lousi, Douglas, Taylor, Anderson.<\/p>\n<p>Replacements: Harry Thomas, Morse, Henry Thomas, Ball, D Davis, Blacker, McBryde, Badham.<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)<\/p>\n<p>Assistants: Clara Munarini &amp; Bisetto Luca (Italy)<\/p>\n<p>TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/welsh\">Welsh Rugby<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\/teams\/scarlets\">Scarlets<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/rugby-union\">Rugby Union<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scarlets draw in Benetton fog after chaotic finaleImage source, Huw Evans AgencyImage caption, Scarlets are yet to win back-to-back games in 2025-26Published12 minutes agoCommentsUnited Rugby Champion&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}