Benetton 34-23 Scarlets: Welsh side fall short despite fightback as injury worries deepen

Nineteen points from Benetton fly-half Tomas Albornoz condemned the Scarlets to a defeat in Italy as a late comeback from the Welsh side fell short.

Late tries from Sione Kalamafoni and Johnny Williams gave the Scarlets hope late on, although their injury worries appeared to deep as they lost both Williams and Josh Macleod. Having welcomed back Leigh Halfpenny and Ken Owens in Italy after long-term injuries, Macleod was forced injured just a couple of minutes into his 100th appearance for the Scarlets, while Williams also limped off.

The home side opened the scoring after five minutes after Vaea Fifita was penalised on the deck, with Albornoz slotting over the early penalty.

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The match remained scoreless until the half-hour mark, when Albornoz crossed for the opening try.

A couple of Halfpenny penalties either side of another Albornoz effort closed the gap slightly, with the Scarlets trailing 13-6 at the break.

Albornoz and Halfpenny continued to trade penalties after half-time before Benetton pulled further ahead after a score from Edoardo Padovani, with the Scarlets misery compounded through a yellow card for Ryan Conbeer for a dangerous tackle.

However, despite trailing by 17 points with 20 minutes left to play, two tries in 10 minutes gave the Scarlets hope.

First Kalimafoni forced his way over from close range after a quick penalty from Dane Blacker.

Then, with 10 minutes to go, centre Williams burst through the home defence to score. Cruelly, his match ended shortly after that as the Wales midfielder limped off.

Any hopes of a comeback were extinguished through a late Rhyno Smith penalty and a try from Tommaso Menoncello.

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