| Cardiff (35) 42 |
| Tries: Ratti, L Williams Penalty attempt, Lane 2, Llewellyn Cons: Priestland 4, Thomas |
| Zebre (0) 14 |
| Tries: Cronje, Mbanda Cons:O'Malley. Canna |
Cardiff cruised to a win over Zebre at home in their final United Rugby Championship game.
Dai Young's men ended five match losing streak with Owen Lane scoring two tries, and Lloyd Williams scoring scores from James Ratti. This gave them a 35 point lead at the half.
Zebre responded by trying Maxime Mbanda's and Erich Cronje's tries.
The scoring was completed by Max Llewellyn, a Cardiff centre. He scored a late score.
While this six-try win won't erase the problems of Cardiff's poor season, they are currently 13th on the URC table. However, the first half performance will give hope to Cardiff fans for next year.
It was also possible without the participation of 14 injured players, including Tomos Williams, Jarrod Evans, Jarrod Evans, Jarrod Evans, Jarrod Evans, Jarrod Evans, and Josh Adams from Wales.
The result gave a slight boost to Welsh rugby, with the main headlines this week being dominated in part by a proposal in the report to reduce one of the four professional sides.
Zebre's 14-month wait for a URC win finally came to an end last weekend. 23-18 victory over Dragons in Parma.This display showed why they remain at the bottom on the 16-team team table.
Century celebrations
In his 100th appearance at Cardiff, Lock Seb Davies led the way, while Zebre made a debut at centre for Franco Smith Jr., the son and former South Africa fly half and current head of high performance in Italy.
Following an initial charge by centre Llewellyn Ratti, number eight Ratti crossed the line at close range in just five minutes.
Cardiff extended their lead 5 minutes later, scrum-half Williams scoring after a break by prop Rhys Carrre.
The penalty was awarded after Theo Cabango's wing was denied a try at the corner due to a high tackle from Junior Laloifi, who was also given a yellow by Ben Blain, the Scottish referee.
Wing Lane scored the bonus-point attempt in 21 minutes. He finished his run with a great finish and added his second just before halftime.
Lane was able to score an opportunist goal after chasing Williams' chip kick. The hosts were leading by 35 points at halftime.
Zebre responded quickly with a second-half try by centre Erich Cronje. Before Cardiff replacement hooker Kirby Myhill was introduced, he registered his 100th league appearance.
He quickly left the field and soon returned with a 10 minute late no-arms attack that warranted a yellow ticket.
Zebre made the most of the extra man in Cardiff and the soft Cardiff defense, with Mbanda, a flanker, walking over for an additional try for the Italians.
Cardiff will be disappointed by Cardiff's second-half performance, but Llewellyn ended the match with a fine individual score, converted and scored by Ben Thomas.
Cardiff: Matthew Morgan; Owen Lane, Rey Lee-Lo, Max Llewellyn, Theo Cabango; Rhys Priestland, Lloyd Williams; Rhys Carré, Liam Belcher, Dmitri Arhip, Seb Davies, Matthew Screech, James Botham, Josh Navidi (capt), James Ratti.
Replacements:Kirby Myhill. Corey Domachowski. Dillon Lewis. Teddy Williams. Ellis Jenkins. Ellis Bevan. Mason Grady.
Zebre: Michelangelo Biondelli; Junior Laloifi, Erich Cronjé, Franco Smith Jr, Simone Gesi; Timothy O'Malley, Chris Cook; Paolo Buonfiglio, Luca Bigi, Ion Neculai, David Sisi (capt), Andrea Zambonin, Luca Andreani, Maxime Mbandà, Jimmy Tuivaiti.
Replacements: Massimo Ceciliani, Juan Pitinari, Eduardo Bello, Gabriele Venditti, Ross Vintcent, Nicolò Casilio, Carlo Canna, Lorenzo Pani.
Referee: Ben Blain (SRU)
Assistant referees: Simon Rees & Carwyn Williams (WRU)
TMO:Ian Davies (WRU).
