Stormers sunk by Benneton in Italy

Marco Zanon and Alessandro Izekor went in for tries with Tomas Albornoz adding a conversion and penalty and Jacob Umaga converting Izekor's second-half score. Rhyno Smith also sent over a smart drop-goal from 45m out.

Warrick Gelant, Scarra Ntubeni and Courtnall Skosan went in for the South Africans, with Jean-Luc du Plessis adding a conversion.

Benetton broke the deadlock with 23 minutes gone when Albornoz chipped through from the 22-metre line and after Gelant failed to collect, Zanon swooped it to touch down giving Albornoz an easy conversion in front of the posts.

Gelant made amends on the half-hour mark with a try on a penalty advantage. Du Plessis sent the ball high towards the corner and as Stormers winger Skosan challenged Smith, the ball bounced loose and backwards for Gelant to collect and stroll in for the score.

Albornoz stretched the Benetton lead five minutes before the break with a straightforward penalty from in front of the posts.

But the Stormers went straight back up the other end to level the scores. After kicking to touch from a penalty, the driving maul went to work and Ntubeni controlled it from the back before peeling off to burrow over.

But a superb drop-goal right on the stroke of half-time from 50 metres out by Smith sent Benetton into the break 13-10 ahead.

Stormers went ahead for the first time six minutes after the interval when with the forwards camped on the Benetton tryline, a change of focus saw the ball shifted out to the right where Skosan slid over in the corner.

But back came Benetton and flanker Izekor popped up on the outside to slide over in the corner as Benetton spread the ball from left to right and Stormers could find no way back.

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