Match Centre: Gloucester 54-25 Benetton

Gloucester 54-25 Benetton, Kingsholm Stadium

Gloucester ran an eight try riot as Gloucester Rugby trounced Benetton 54-25 in their European Challenge Cup clash at Kingsholm Stadium.

This is first win for Gloucester in the competition as they move to second in Pool B with Benetton at the bottom after losing their only fixture.

Rhyno Smith started the proceedings with a 9th minute penalty goal and four minutes later he doubled the visitors' tally with his second three-pointer.

As the first quarter was about to end, Jack Singleton touched down at the back of a powerful driving maul. Adam Hastings missed out on the conversion but amends five minutes when Ben Meehan dotted down after chasing a kick from Louis Rees-Zammit making the scoreline 12-6.

Benetton suffered a setback as skipper Michele Lamaro was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and Gloucester immediately capitalised on the numerical advantage with Jordy Reid touching down and Hastings improved making it 19-6.

Smith missed a penalty change in the 34th minute but showed brisk pace to force his way go over the line in the 35th minute and at the stroke of half-time Sebastian Negri dived from close range as the teams completed the opening half with a 19-18 scoreline.

Jonny May nearly scored in the corner, but the team utilised the momentum and Matias Alemanno crashed over and soon the Italian side were down to 14 players again as Herbst was yellow carded for collapsing a maul that also resulted in a penalty try for the hosts making it 33-18.

Gloucester had the momentum on their side and it was evident as they finished a dominating third quarter as Stephen Varney replaced Ben Meehan in the 57th minute and immediately got into the action by scoring a minute later making it 40-18.

With Luca Morisi and May exchanging tries, the teams entered the final 10 minutes with Gloucester having a lead of 47-25. The Cherry and Whites capped off a fantastic game with Jack Clement scoring their final try at the back of yet another successful maul to register their first win of the competition.

Team line up:

Gloucester: Evans; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Twelvetrees, May; Hastings, Meehan; Rapava-Ruskin, Singleton, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Reid, Ludlow, Ackermann.

Reserves: Walker, Ford-Robinson, Balmain, Davidson, Clement, Varney, Kveseladze, Moyle.

Benetton: Pani; Padovani, Mononcello, Riera, Ioane; Smith, Braley; Lamaro, Zuliani, Negri, Ruzza, Herbst, Pasquali, Lucchesi, Gallo.

Reserves: Els, Traore, Nemer, Cannone, Steyn, Garbisi, Duvenage, Morisi.