TV Guide Leagues Teams

Lions Lions 18 - 26 Benetton Benetton

Full time

06 Dec 2025

EPCR Challenge Cup

Stage: Pool 2 Round 1

Ellis Park

Lions vs Benetton head to head

🎉 1
👏 1
🔥 1

Benetton Rugby secured a hard-fought victory against the Lions with a final score of 26-18. Rhyno Smith opened the scoring for the away team with an early try, swiftly followed by penalties from both teams. The Lions responded through Kelly Mpeku's try and Chris William Smith's conversion, bringing the score to 10-12 at halftime. In the second half, Ruan Venter added another try for the Lions, but Benetton's Leonardo Marin answered back with two tries, showcasing his exceptional finishing ability. A drop goal from Tomas Albornoz in the closing minutes sealed the win for Benetton. The Lions' Kelly Mpeku received a yellow card, which impacted their momentum during a crucial phase of the match. This victory marked another successful outing for Benetton against the Lions, continuing their dominance in recent encounters.

Weather

Temperature: 24.2°C (Feels like 23.5°C) Condition: MostlyCloudy Wind: 8.7 km/h, gusting to 27.8 km/h Humidity: 46% Cloud Cover: 87%

Highlights

Events

  • Kickoff
  • 4'

    Substitution

    So'otala Fa'aso'o on for Michele Lamaro · Benetton

  • 5'

    Try

    Rhyno Smith · Benetton

    0 - 5
  • 9'

    Penalty

    Chris William Smith · Lions

    3 - 5
  • 12'

    Penalty

    Jacob Umaga · Benetton

    3 - 8
  • 13'

    Substitution

    Michele Lamaro on for So'otala Fa'aso'o · Benetton

  • 36'

    Try

    Kelly Mpeku · Lions

    8 - 8
  • 37'

    Conversion

    Chris William Smith · Lions

    10 - 8
  • Halftime 10 - 8
  • Second Half
  • 44'

    Try

    Ruan Venter · Lions

    15 - 8
  • 46'

    Substitution

    Nicholas Gasperini on for Bautista Bernasconi · Benetton

  • 47'

    Substitution

    Morne Brandon on for Franco Marais · Lions

  • 47'

    Substitution

    RF Schoeman on for Asenathi Ntlabakanye · Lions

  • 50'

    Substitution

    Mirco Spagnolo on for Thomas Gallo · Benetton

  • 50'

    Substitution

    Giosue Zilocchi on for Simone Ferrari · Benetton

  • 56'

    Penalty

    Chris William Smith · Lions

    18 - 8
  • 57'

    Substitution

    Riccardo Favretto on for Niccolo Cannone · Benetton

  • 58'

    Substitution

    Alessandro Garbisi on for Andy Uren · Benetton

  • 58'

    Substitution

    Tomas Albornoz on for Jacob Umaga · Benetton

  • 58'

    Substitution

    Federico Ruzza on for Eli Snyman · Benetton

  • 59'

    Penalty

    Tomas Albornoz · Benetton

    18 - 11
  • 60'

    Substitution

    Renzo Du Plessis on for Ruan Venter · Lions

  • 62'

    Substitution

    Nico Steyn on for Morne van den Berg · Lions

  • 63'

    Substitution

    So'otala Fa'aso'o on for Michele Lamaro · Benetton

  • 66'

    Substitution

    Eddie Davids on for SJ Kotze · Lions

  • 66'

    Substitution

    Darrien-Lane Landsberg on for Etienne Oosthuizen · Lions

  • 67'

    Yellow Card

    Kelly Mpeku · Lions

  • 70'

    Try

    Leonardo Marin · Benetton

    18 - 16
  • 71'

    Conversion

    Tomas Albornoz · Benetton

    18 - 18
  • 71'

    Substitution

    Gianni Lombard on for Chris William Smith · Lions

  • 71'

    Substitution

    Richard Kriel on for Eduan Keyter · Lions

  • 73'

    Substitution

    Michele Lamaro on for Manuel Zuliani · Benetton

  • 74'

    Try

    Leonardo Marin · Benetton

    18 - 23
  • 77'

    Yellow Card Complete

    Kelly Mpeku · Lions

  • 78'

    Drop Goal

    Tomas Albornoz · Benetton

    18 - 26
  • Fulltime 18 - 26

Player ratings

Lions
  • 15 Quan Horn 6.7
  • 14 Kelly Mpeku 7.0
  • 13 Erich Cronje 6.3
  • 12 Bronson Mills 7.4
  • 11 Eduan Keyter 6.5
  • 10 Chris William Smith 6.6
  • 9 Morne van den Berg 6.6
  • 1 SJ Kotze 6.4
  • 2 Franco Marais 6.6
  • 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye 6.1
  • 4 Etienne Oosthuizen 5.7
  • 5 Reinhard Nothnagel 6.4
  • 6 Jarod Cairns 7.3
  • 7 Ruan Venter 7.0
  • 8 Francke Horn 6.5
  • 16 Morne Brandon 6.1
  • 17 Eddie Davids 5.8
  • 18 RF Schoeman 4.6
  • 19 Darrien-Lane Landsberg 5.6
  • 20 Renzo Du Plessis 6.0
  • 21 Nico Steyn 5.6
  • 22 Richard Kriel –
  • 23 Gianni Lombard –
Benetton
  • 15 Rhyno Smith 7.6
  • 14 Louis Lynagh 6.9
  • 13 Tommaso Menoncello 6.1
  • 12 Leonardo Marin 9.1
  • 11 Ignacio Mendy 8.0
  • 10 Jacob Umaga 6.5
  • 9 Andy Uren 6.1
  • 1 Thomas Gallo 6.8
  • 2 Bautista Bernasconi 7.2
  • 3 Simone Ferrari 6.5
  • 4 Niccolo Cannone 6.6
  • 5 Eli Snyman 6.5
  • 6 Manuel Zuliani 5.4
  • 7 Michele Lamaro 6.8
  • 8 Alessandro Izekor 7.5
  • 16 Nicholas Gasperini 6.5
  • 17 Mirco Spagnolo 6.7
  • 18 Giosue Zilocchi 6.5
  • 19 Federico Ruzza 6.3
  • 20 So'otala Fa'aso'o 7.5
  • 21 Riccardo Favretto 6.2
  • 22 Alessandro Garbisi 6.1
  • 23 Tomas Albornoz 7.1