Treviso thrash Dragons

Editor

Treviso comfortably saw off the challenge of the Dragons in a 32-13 win in their PRO12 clash at the Stadio di Monigo on Saturday.

Treviso comfortably saw off the challenge of the Dragons in a 32-13 bonus point win in their PRO12 clash at the Stadio di Monigo on Saturday.

Young full-back Tom Prydie did his best to keep the visitors in the game and scored all of their points, including two early penalties, but the home side scored the opening try of the match after ten minutes and they didn't look back.

Italian international scrum-half Edoardo Gori's smart early try was followed by a score from the imposing figure of Tongan-born Japanese centre Christian Loamanu midway through the first half.

A yellow card for winger Will Harries late on in the opening period made things even more difficult for the Newport outfit and the Italians took full advantage with a try from Luke McLean right on the stroke of half-time to make it 20-6.

Fly-half Alberto di Bernardo was having a mixed day with the boot, having kicked a penalty but just one out of three conversions in the first half, but his form from the tee was rendered completely irrelevant in the opening few minutes of the second half.

No sooner had the two sets of players re-emerged onto the pitch than Loamanu had made another great break and touched down to complete his brace and seal the bonus point for the hosts.

Prydie did cross ten minutes later to give the Welshmen some hope but that was soon extinguished on the hour mark as Harries was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the afternoon.

Treviso probably should have scored more in the final quarter but they had to settle for just one more try from replacement Tobias Botes to wrap up a comfortable victory and complete a trio of home wins against Welsh regions so far this season.

The scorers:

For Treviso:
Tries: Loamanu 2, Gori, McLean, Botes
Pen: Di Bernardo
Con: Di Bernardo 2

For Dragons:
Try: Prydie
Con: Prydie
Pen: Prydie 2
Red card: Harries (2 yellow cards, 34 and 61 mins)

Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Luke McLean, 13 Christian Loamanu, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Antonio Pavanello (c), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Alberto De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernabò, 20 Francesco Minto, 21 Paul Derbyshire, 22 Tobias Botes, 23 Luca Morisi.

Dragons: 15 Tom Prydie, 14 Will Harries, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Tonderai Chavhanga, 10 Dan Evans, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 Tom Brown, 7 Nic Cudd, 6 Lewis Evans (c), 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Dan Way, 2 Hugh Gustafson, 1 Phil Price.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Owen Evans, 18 Nathan Buck, 19 Ian Nimmo, 20 Ieuan Jones, 21 Wayne Evans, 22 Lewis Robling, 23 Jack Dixon.

Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Stefano Pennè (Italy), Stefano Marrama (Italy)
Television match official: Alan Falzone (Italy)