BENETTON, THE overnight success that was years in the making. Marco Bortolami’s team have been one of the stories of the season, powering up the URC table with an attractive, abrasive brand of rugby which also delivered them to the knockout stage of the Challenge Cup as pool winners.
By the turn of the year, the Treviso troupe had already notched up seven league wins – only one fewer than they managed in the whole of last season.
Louis Lynagh and Matt Gallagher will arrive from the English Premiership this summer, following in the footsteps of the likes of Paolo Odogwu, Jacob Umaga and Malakai Fekitoa as high-profile, energising additions to a squad bursting at the seams with native talent.
In men such as the Cannone brothers, Niccolò and Lorenzo, Federico Ruzza, Michele Lamaro, Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello, Benetton have the backbone of the Italy team starting to gel together under Gonzalo Quesada.
Build it and they will come. The sellout for the visit of Glasgow Warriors atbarely 5,000 people – but the pre- and post-match offering is up there with the best in Europe, not least when it comes to showcasing regional food and drink. Treviso, after all, is the home of Prosecco.
