Wales' Williams to captain Cardiff in Benetton test
Wales' Teddy Williams will captain Cardiff Rugby in their United Rugby Championship (URC) fixture at Benetton on Saturday.The second row is one of six changes made by head coach Matt Sherratt from the 20-17 victory against Lions.Williams' fellow Wales internationals Evan Lloyd and James Botham both start in the pack, along with Dan Thomas.Ben Donnell moves into the second row alongside Williams, with Botham and Thomas on the flanks.Ellis Bevan starts at scrum-half while Harri Millard replaces Rey Lee-Lo at centre.Wing Regan Grace is handed his first URC start, as Sherratt opts for a 6-2 split on the replacements bench - with Joe Cowell in line for a first league appearance.
The Italian side are without flanker Alessandro Izekor and centre Tommaso Menoncello due to injury.Cardiff sit fifth in the URC table on 35 points following last weekend's victory over Lions in the Welsh capital.Benetton are currently 10th, just three points adrift of the Blue and Blacks, following their hard-fought 21-18 win against Edinburgh last time out.
View from the camps
Benetton head coach Marco Bortolami said: "Our only focus is on bringing home the result against Cardiff."The choices were made to field the best possible line-up, providing continuity compared to last week with few changes among the 23. "Unfortunately, we have to do without [Alessandro] Izekor due to injury and [Tommaso] Menoncello as his physical indicators have pushed us to give him a precautionary rest."Cardiff head coach Matt Sherratt said: "We were really pleased to win last weekend against the Lions. It was an important one for us and a win, which the group fully deserved."The league is incredibly tight this season and you can shoot up or down the table in a couple of weeks so it is important that we continue to pick up points whenever possible."We have put ourselves in a good position but the challenge is to stay there with some difficult fixtures coming up."Benetton will pose a big challenge. They have a squad full of quality, pose plenty of threats and will be looking to build on a good win over Edinburgh."
Team news
Benetton: Rhyno Smith; Ignacio Mendy, Ignacio Brex, Malakai Fekitoa, Paolo Odogwu; Tomas Albornoz, Andy Uren; Thomas Gallo, Bautista Bernasconi, Giosué Zilocchi, Scott Scrafton, Eli Snyman (capt), Riccardo Favretto, Manuel Zuliani, Toa HalafihiReplacements: Siua Maile, Mirco Spagnolo, Simone Ferrari, Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Michele Lamaro, Alessandro Garbisi, Jacob Umaga Cardiff Rugby: Cam Winnett; Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Harri Millard, Rory Jennings, Regan Grace; Callum Sheedy, Ellis Bevan; Danny Southworth, Evan Lloyd, Rhys Litterick, Ben Donnell, Teddy Williams (capt), James Botham, Dan Thomas, Alun LawrenceReplacements: Dafydd Hughes, Corey Domachowski, Joe Cowell, Rory Thornton, Alex Mann, Thomas Young, Johan Mulder, Ben Thomas
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