Cardiff vow to ignore table in push for play-offs

Play-off hopefuls Cardiff intend to ignore the United Rugby Championship (URC) table after taking their eye off the ball to suffer festive frustration.

The Blue and Blacks host Benetton on Saturday night and then finish the pre-Six Nations block with a trip to Ulster.

Cardiff start round 10 in fourth place and are in a strong position for the play-offs despite frustrating derby defeats by Scarlets and Ospreys either side of Christmas.

Corniel van Zyl's side averaged 4.2 match points per game before the derby period but claimed a total of six from their three meetings with Welsh rivals.

"I think we started to look at the table a little bit," admitted lock Josh McNally.

"Around those derby fixtures we took our focus off the game by game thing.

"We've had a really good refocus after the derbies and we have two huge games now then a bit of a break. We'll just keep competing every week and see where it gets us."

Cardiff finished ninth in 2024-25 and missed out on the play-offs to Scarlets by a point.

They need to make home advantage count against Benetton given that five of their remaining nine fixtures are on the road, including a double-header in South Africa.

The Blue and Blacks have taken 20 points from a possible 25 at the Arms Park in the URC, and claimed bonus-point wins versus Ulster and Racing 92 in the Challenge Cup.

They face a Benetton side who they will travel to in the last 16 of the European competition and who demolished Dragons 74-21 with an 11-try show of strength in Treviso a fortnight ago.

"We know we don't have a lot of home games left so we need to make sure we get the energy levels right, the intent right and ultimately to make the families and supporters proud," said coach Corniel van Zyl, who played for Benetton and Italy.

Seven Cardiff players were named in Wales' squad for the Six Nations on Tuesday and all of them feature against Benetton, though Mason Grady will start on the bench.

Van Zyl makes 12 changes from the Challenge Cup defeat at Exeter, only Josh McNally, James Botham and Jacob Beetham remain from the game at Sandy Park.

Liam Belcher returns to captain the side in a front row with Rhys Barratt and Keiron Assiratti.

McNally is reunited with George Nott as lock partners, while Alex Mann, Botham and Alun Lawrence make up the back-row.

Behind the pack, Aled Davies and Callum Sheedy combine at half-back, with Ben Thomas and Harri Millard in the centre.

Josh Adams and Iwan Stephens return alongside Beetham in the back-three.

Cardiff: Beetham; Adams, Millard, B Thomas, Stephens; Sheedy, Davies; Barratt, Liam Belcher (capt), Assiratti, McNally, Nott, Mann, Botham, Lawrence.

Replacements: Lloyd, Domachowski, Sebastian, Thornton, D Thomas, Mulder, Lloyd, Grady

Benetton: Smith; Mendy, Menoncello, Marin, Odogwu; Farias, Uren (capt); Aminu, Maile, Pasquali, Marini, Ruzza, Favretto, Zuliani, Cannone.

Replacements: Bernasconi, Spagnolo, Gallorini, Scrafton, Fa'aso'o, Kingi, Garbisi, Drago.

Officials

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Assistants: Ben Connor (Wales), Craig Evans (Wales

TMO: Colin Brett (Scotland)