PRO14 wins for Cardiff Blues and Edinburgh

There were wins for Cardiff Blues and Edinburgh in the PRO14 on Friday as they saw off Benetton Rugby and Munster respectively.

Cardiff Blues 31-25 Benetton Rugby

Cardiff Blues cut the gap on the third-placed Cheetahs in their Conference to five points after they beat Benetton 31-25 with a bonus point.

They led 17-13 at the break thanks to tries from Owen Lane and Olly Robinson, both results of expansive and entertaining passages of play.

However, the Italians were proving more than a match for their Welsh hosts as two early penalties from Marty Banks had taken them ahead.

After Robinson's try Benetton did cross for a try of their own when Jarrod Evans' kick was charged down and grounded by Giorgio Bronzini.

The second half upped in tempo as Tomos Williams' smart chip kick allowed Ellis Jenkins to dive over, but Monty Ioane hit back for Benetton.

Nick Williams responded in kind from close range on 55 minutes to make it 31-20 and that was how it stayed until a minute before the end, when Tomas Baravalle crossed from the back of a driving maul to give Benetton at least a losing bonus-point for their efforts in a solid showing.

The scorers:

For Cardiff Blues:
Tries: Lane, Robinson, E Jenkins, N Williams
Cons: Evans 4
Pen: Evans

For Benetton:
Tries: Bronzini, Ioane, Baravalle
Cons: Banks, McKinley
Pens: Banks 2

Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Aled Summerhill, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Owen Lane, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Olly Robinson, 6 Macauley Cook, 5 Josh Turnbull, 4 George Earle, 3 Taufa'ao Filise, 2 Kirby Myhill, 1 Gethin Jenkins (c) 
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Rey Lee-Lo

Benetton Rugby: 15 Luca Sperandio, 14 Michael Tagicakibau, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Marty Banks, 9 Giorgio Bronzini, 8 Nasi Manu, 7 Marco Barbini (c), 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Irné Herbst, 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Matteo Zanusso, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Federico Zani 
Replacements: 16 Tomas Baravalle, 17 Riccardo Brugnara, 18 Cherif Traore, 19 Marco Lazzaroni, 20 Engjel Makelara, 21 Ian McKinley, 22 Alberto Sgarbi, 23 Andrea Bronzini

Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

Edinburgh 12-6 Munster

Edinburgh picked up their 12th victory of the PRO14 campaign on Friday as they beat Munster 12-6 at Murrayfield in a low-scoring fixture.

A try in each half from wing Duhan van der Merwe proved the difference as the Scottish side closed the gap on the Scarlets to six points.

Edinburgh led 5-3 at the break thanks to Van der Merwe's 36th minute try. Dougie Fife sparked the attack with a superb break from his own 22 before setting up the big wing to open his team's account. This came after Munster had taken a 3-0 lead thanks to a JJ Hanrahan penalty.

Hanrahan was on target 10 minutes into the second-half to make it 6-5 to Munster but seven minutes later Van der Merwe was over for his brace, this time thanks to a miss pass from fly-half Jaco van der Walt, who slotted the conversion to make it 12-6 which was how it finished.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Van der Merwe 2
Con: Van der Walt
Yellow Card: Harries

For Munster:
Pens: Hanrahan 2

Edinburgh: 15 Dougie Fife, 14 Jason Harries, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Chris Dean, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Bill Mata, 7 John Hardie, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Fraser McKenzie (c), 3 Murray McCallum, 2 Neil Cochrane, 1 Jordan Lay
Replacements: 16 Cameron Fenton, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Junior Rasolea

Munster: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Darren Sweetnam, 13 Sammy Arnold, 12 Rory Scannell, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 JJ Hanrahan, 9 James Hart, 8 Robin Copeland, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Jack O’Donoghue, 5 Billy Holland (c), 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Stephen Archer, 2 Mike Sherry, 1 James Cronin
Replacements: 16 Kevin O’Byrne, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Brian Scott, 19 Darren O’Shea, 20 Tommy O’Donnell, 21 Jack Stafford, 22 Bill Johnston, 23 Dan Goggin

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Elgan Williams (Wales), Mike Adamson (Scotland)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)