PRO14 Rugby has confirmed that Benetton will progress to the Rainbow Cup final after their round-six match against the Ospreys was called off due to Covid-19.
Benetton were second on the Rainbow Cup ‘North’ table after wins over the Glasgow Warriors, Connacht and a double over Italian rivals Zebre.
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The Italian side trailed Glasgow by one point going into the final round of fixtures, where the Warriors had a bye.
However, Benetton’s fixture against the Ospreys, scheduled to take place on Saturday, has been cancelled due to positive cases in the Welsh side’s camp. The game was not rescheduled due to the fact that there were no remaining available weekends.
As a result, Benetton were awarded four log points and have subsequently qualified for the Rainbow Cup final in Treviso on 19 June.
There they will meet either the Bulls or Sharks, who face off in Durban on Saturday afternoon for a place in the final. The Sharks need to win with a bonus point and deny the Bulls both a losing bonus point and four-try bonus point to overtake the South African log leaders.
Benetton are captained by former Stormers scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage and have South African-born players in hooker Corniel Els, locks Irne Herbst and Eli Snyman and loose forward Braam Steyn. They also have Italian international flyhalves Tommaso Allan and Paolo Garbisi in their squad.
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