De Beer misses late kick as Dragons open URC season with draw at Benetton

Tinus de Beer saw an 80th-minute conversion strike the post as the Dragons began the United Rugby Championship campaign with a draw at Benetton at the Stadio Monigo on 25 September 2026. Benetton led 19-7 at half-time through tries by Francois Mey, Bautista Bernasconi and Ignacio Mendy, with Jacob Umaga converting twice; Dragons replied with tries from de Beer, Fine Inisi and Elliot Dee and de Beer added two conversions.

The match was the Dragons’ first outing under head coach Filo Tiatia and Benetton’s first game with Wayne Pivac in charge. Tinus de Beer joined the Dragons from Cardiff in 2025, while the visitors arrived in Treviso buoyed by an encouraging 2025-26 campaign despite finishing 15th. Benetton’s pack and line-out pressure produced their early scores, and discipline and set-piece issues troubled the Dragons in the first half.

Benetton’s forwards worked driving line-outs to create chances, with centre Francois Mey scoring on his debut and hooker Bautista Bernasconi also touching down, the latter following the pack’s pressure. Dragons responded before half-time when de Beer finished a move after strong work from lock Seb Davies and flanker Thomas Young, cutting the deficit to 19-7. Handling errors and defensive lapses allowed Argentina wing Ignacio Mendy to finish the half for Benetton down the right.

The Dragons started the second half brightly, using offloads to free Fine Inisi for a try in the corner and reduce the margin. A potential Dragons leveller was overturned with 15 minutes remaining after the TMO ruled Huw Anderson had knocked on before putting Che Hope over. Jacob Umaga then missed a long-range penalty in the 74th minute that might have stretched Benetton’s lead.

Elliot Dee scored from a driving line-out to put the visitors in position to take the lead, but de Beer’s conversion from the right struck the left post and rebounded out in the 80th minute. With the final play, Wales wing Rio Dyer kicked the ball out rather than attempting a winning play, and the game finished as a draw, leaving the Dragons with two competition points.

Wayne Pivac, who led Scarlets to the title in 2017 before a three-year spell as Wales head coach, will have expected his side to convert a 19-7 half-time cushion into a win at the Stadio Monigo. Filo Tiatia’s Dragons now face a run of five fixtures in Wales in the season’s first block and have consecutive URC derbies against Scarlets and Ospreys in Newport next.

Benetton: Gallagher; Mendy, Mey, Odogwu, Ratave; Umaga, Uren; Medrano, Bernasconi, Ferrari, Midena, Ruzza, Marini, Zuliani, Negri (capt). Replacements: Gasperini, Nemer, Gallorini, Gritti, Miranda, Maile, Werchon, Smith.

Dragons: Anderson; Dyer, Inisi, Owen (co-capt), Tuitavuki; de Beer, R Williams; Martinez, Burrows, Coleman, Langton-Cryer, S Davies, Woodman, Young (co-capt), Minto. Replacements: Dee, W Jones, Hunt, Lewis-Hughes, Beddall, Hope, J Lloyd, Paea.

Referee: Christopher Allison (South Africa). Assistants: Alex Frasson & Dario Merli (Italy). TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa).