ZEBRE PARMA 14 – 29 CARDIFF RUGBY
Dafydd Hughes was a very happy hooker in Parma as he collected a first half hat-trick to steer Cardiff Rugby to a bonus-point win over Zebre that saw them move up to second in the BKT United Rugby Championship table.
All three tries came from driving lineouts as the Welsh region turned up the heat up front. Then they demonstrated their clinical edge at the death when Taine Basham went over for the vital fourth try.
That ensured they left with the full five points and stayed hot on the heels of league leaders the Stormers. They will be on the road again next weekend when they kick-off their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign against Stade Francais in Paris.
Zebre dominated possession at the start and Martin Roger Farias had the opportunity to open the scoring early but fired his simple shot at goal wide. That was the beginning of a frustrating afternoon at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi for the home fans who also saw three of their team sent to the sin-bin.
Cardiff thought they had opened the scoring with a try from Tom Bowen, but the touch judge spotted a stud in touch and the score was ruled out. It didn’t matter, though, because Cardiff maintained the pressure and Hughes scored his first try in the 12th minute.
Zebre No 8 Giovanni Licata was the first to pick up a yellow card and Hughes punished him further with his second try, this time improved by Ioan Lloyd to make it 12-0.
No sooner had Licata returned than he made up for his card by crossing from close range. That try was converted to cut the gap to seven points. That score put new spirit into the home side, and it took a great turn over from Jim Botham to stop their momentum.
Hughes’ third try, once again converted by Lloyd, made it 19-7 at the break and gave Cardiff a whole half to conjure up the bonus-point try. Lloyd added a penalty seven minutes after the re-start and then Zebre lost Davide Ruggeri to the sin bin.
Marco Zanon broke clear for what looked like an important score for Zebre with nine minutes to go, but the TMO spotted a knock on in the build-up and the scores was ruled out. Zanon did get on the scoresheet from close range, and the conversion cut the gap to eight points with time running out.
Basham then grabbed a last gasp try that wrapped things up and Harri Wilde converted to put a cherry on top of the cake.