Benetton’s South African-born star Rhyno Smith believes his side are ready to shed their “imposter syndrome” and cause the first major shock in this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship when they face Irish powerhouse Leinster on Friday.
Leinster were almost shocked by the other Italian club Zebre, eventually winning 33-29 after a late fightback by the Italians, underlining the progress the Italian teams have made in the off-season as they try to be more competitive.
Benetton, meanwhile, were in full flight as they beat Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors 33-11 in the opening round, raising a few eyebrows around the competition and, according to Smith, there is more to come.
For Benetton it is about shedding the “imposter syndrome” - as Smith puts it. The South African former Blitzboks star has been a revelation since moving to Italy and scored 16 points with the boot for Benetton in their opening round.
And he makes it clear, Benetton are no longer the whipping boys of the competition, they are here to play.
“It’s better to start with a win than a loss, it’s as simple as that. But then again you have to bear in mind that championships aren’t won in the first week. Hell, you don’t even qualify for the quarterfinal in week one,” Smith said on the opening performance.
“You just have to keep in mind that it was only one game - nice to win and put in such a dominant performance against a team that likes to hold the ball. We showed our defence took a step up, a big step up from last year.
“We are very happy with that but we are aware of getting aware of ourselves in terms of what it means in the greater scheme of things.”
The biggest change that came with shocking the Vodacom Bulls in the Rainbow Cup two years ago was that Benetton stopped seeing themselves as making up the numbers in the competition and with the help of some system changes, now want to shed their “imposter syndrome”.
“I think we’ve stopped viewing ourselves as visitors. My wife and I have been talking recently about imposter syndrome and I think Benetton is slowly getting rid of that imposter syndrome where they view themselves as visitors, or less than capable when they play against some of the teams. I think the amount of times we arrive at the game and we are there to take part is definitely less and less - I have friends who have been here for a long time, I’ve only been here for one year but I see it more and more when we arrive for games against high-calibre international opposition, with lots of internationals.
“Our boys are ready to win, our boys are ready to fight. We are not there anymore to just take part. It is a process, it doesn’t happen overnight. Winning one game doesn’t change that significantly in itself. Benetton are here to compete, not to take part anymore. Hopefully we will be proving that week in and out.”
TOUGH TASKSmith talks about the changes his namesake Franco brought in as director of high performance, something that has seen the system become more professional and create a pipeline to the top for Italian players.
“I think the kind of changes that coach Franco brought in his position - when he was head coach of Italy, he was just head coach of Italy as far as I understand, but when he changed it became a lot more about growing the game beyond the borders of just Benetton and Zebre and furthermore extending that high performance environment beyond just the two clubs. That is where they are getting their biggest reward currently. If you look at Benetton’s squad, if we had to pick our best possible team without injuries, there could be five boys in our squad under the age of 22.
“That is indicative of a system that has been two to three years in the making and we are reaping the reward from that and the Italian national team will reap the reward in another year or two. But Benetton is benefitting from a system that is producing good fruits.”
This weekend though facing Leinster will be a tough go, as Leinster have only ever lost back-to-back home games in the URC just once before, when they were playing at Donnybrook in 2004.
Benetton have won their last three fixtures, but all those fixtures were played at Stadio Monigo, and have won just once outside of Italy in the URC since 2018, on a visit to Dragons in March 2020.
But they will draw inspiration from an 18-15 win in 2018 - their only one in Dublin.
While the Emirates Lions are away to the Ospreys and the Cell C Sharks open the weekend against Zebre, Edinburgh and Connacht will hope to get good starts in South Africa against the Bulls and DHL Stormers respectively.
Elsewhere Glasgow hope to bounce back from the shock and give Franco Smith his first win in charge as they face Cardiff and if history is anything to go by, they may well just do that.
The Scottish team have lost just once at home to Welsh opponents since 2019 and that was by a single point to Dragons RFC in December 2020.
Cardiff Rugby have won three of their last four fixtures in the URC but away from home have won just once in the competition since May 2021: 19-18 against Dragons RFC in Newport in May.
Cardiff have also lost on their last four visits to Scotland since beating Edinburgh at BT Murrayfield in February 2019.
Ulster travel to Scarlets hoping to end a horror run that hasn’t seen them win at Parc y Scarlets since December 2012 and given Scarlets lost all four fixtures against Irish teams last season, will be hopeful to change that. Ulster have also won on four of their last five visits to Wales.
Munster will also be looking to give Graham Rowntree his first win in charge since the departure of Johann van Graan to Bath when they face Dragons on Saturday.
Given Dragons are on a six-game losing streak and haven’t won at home since April 2021, Munster will be looking to overturn a record that saw them lose on their last two visits to Wales and should have enough firepower to come away with a win.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Zebre Parma vs Cell C Sharks 6:30pm
Glasgow Warriors vs Cardiff 8:35pm
Leinster vs Benetton 8:35pm
SATURDAY
Scarlets vs Ulster 2pm
Vodacom Bulls vs Edinburgh 2:30pm
DHL Stormers vs Connacht 2:30pm
Ospreys vs Emirates Lions 8:35pm
SUNDAY
Dragons vs Munster 4pm