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'Munster made a lot of noise': Benetton brush off fuss over Rainbow Cup final

By PA
(Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Benetton head coach Kieran Crowley hopes his team can give rugby fans in Italy something to celebrate in the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup final on Saturday. While the majority of the country focus on the football team at the European Championship, the Treviso-based outfit are looking to cap their fairytale story with the perfect ending.

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After failing to pick up a single victory in the 16-game regular season, Benetton have turned it around to triumph in all four of the Rainbow Cup fixtures they have played and secure a place in the north versus south final against South African side the Bulls.

“Life is life but you have to have some focus. You have family and you need something outside of that,” said Crowley. “If your sporting team or the sport you are interested in is going well, it gives you something to look forward to and hold on to.

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“Hopefully we have done that from a rugby side of things and we can continue it this week. It will be a massive challenge, but hopefully the people who have supported us through the down times get something to smile about.”

There will also be fans back inside Stadio di Monigo, Benetton’s home, with 1,250 supporters able to watch the end-of-season cup competition final. After no wins during the PRO14 campaign, Crowley’s side kicked off this tournament with a 46-19 success over Glasgow before back-to-back derby victories over Zebre raised the unlikely prospect of them reaching the Rainbow Cup final.

When Connacht were seen off, the dream was almost a reality and while the postponement of their scheduled clash with the Ospreys (due to an outbreak of Covid-19 cases at the Welsh region) confirmed Benetton would top the northern section, the former All Black rejected any grumbles from second-placed Munster.

Crowley, who will take over as Italy head coach after this fixture, said: “We were disappointed that Ospreys game didn’t go ahead but that was the way it is. Munster made a lot of noise about it but in the end, they lost to Connacht. We beat Connacht and beat (third-placed) Glasgow, so that goes your next couple of teams down.

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“It is not ideal because we haven’t played everyone, but these were the rules and the circumstances. We thoroughly think we deserve to be there. Well, we know we deserve to be there because we have played some pretty good rugby.

“Are we the most consistent side in the northern hemisphere and PRO14? No, we’re not, but we have got into this position for this specific competition and we’re really proud of it, so we will go out there and give everything we’ve got.”

BENETTON: 15. Jayden Hayward; 14. Edoardo Padovani, 13. Ignacio Brex, 12. Marco Zanon, 11. Monty Ioane; 10. Paolo Garbisi, 9. Dewaldt Duvenage (capt); 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Corniel Els, 3. Marco Riccioni, 4. Niccolo Cannone, 5. Federico Ruzza, 6. Sebastian Negri, 7. Michele Lamaro, 8. Toa Halafihi. Reps: 16. Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17. Ivan Nemer, 18. Filippo Alongi, 19. Irne Herbst, 20. Manuel Zuliani, 21. Marco Barbini, 22. Callum Braley, 23. Ratuva Tavuyara.

BULLS: 15. David Kriel; 14. Madosh Tambwe, 13. Marco van Vuren, 12. Cornal Henricks, 11. Stravino Jacobs; 10. Chris Smit, 9. Ivan van Zyl; 1. Gerhard Steenkamp, 2. Johan Grobbelaar, 3. Mornay Smith, 4. Walt Steenkamp, 5. Jan Uys, 6. Nizaam Carr, 7. Ruan Nortje, 8. Marcell Coetzee. Reps: 16. Schalk Erasmus, 17. Jacques van Rooyen, 18. Lizo Gqoboka, 19. Janco Swanepoel, 20. Muller Uys, 21. Zack Burger, 22. Clinton Swart, 23. Gio Aplon.

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f
fl 25 minutes ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 47 minutes ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
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