United Rugby Championship

Cardiff (26) 40

Tries: T Williams, Sebastian, Basham, Mann, Bowen 2 Cons: Sheedy 4, Evans

Zebre (8) 27

Tries: Minervino, Ferrari, Bertaccini, Da Re Cons: Da Re 2 Pens: Allen

Cardiff continued their promising start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) campaign with a six-try home victory against Zebre.

Wing Tom Bowen crossed for two tries, with further scores from lock Teddy Williams, prop Javan Sebastian, number eight Taine Basham and flanker Alex Mann as Cardiff followed up their opening weekend victory against Scarlets.

Cardiff led 40-8 halfway through the second half but allowed Zebre, who lost 47-13 to Bulls in the opening round, back into the game as the Italian side scored three tries in the final 21 minutes.

Following a first-half try from hooker Francisco Minervino, Zebre’s second-half revival provided scores for replacements Giacomo Ferrari and Giacomo Da Re, and centre Giulio Bertaccini.

The match was played in front of a crowd of 7,231 at the Arms Park, which was a similar attendance to that of the opening Welsh derby game between Scarlets and Cardiff in Llanelli.

Cardiff made four personnel changes to the side that beat Scarlets, with hooker Dafydd Hughes and James Botham, who produced a player-of-the-match display, brought in for captain Liam Belcher and flanker Dan Thomas. Lock Josh McNally led the side in Belcher’s absence.

Injured wing Mason Grady and full-back Cameron Winnett were ruled out as Harri Millard and Bowen were named on the wings and Jacob Beetham slotted in at full-back.

Zebre dominated the early exchanges with Italy international Tommaso Allan missing an easy penalty before slotting over the opening three points.

Cardiff rallied and after a flowing move, lock Williams powered over following a deft Mann try-scoring pass.

It was an ideal way for Williams to mark his first competitive home game for Cardiff after suffering a serious foot injury in October 2025 at the Arms Park.

The hosts extended the lead with a simple tap penalty move as Hughes released his front-row colleague Sebastian.

Zebre demonstrated a more clinical edge with Minervino driven over, but it did not take long for Cardiff to take control again.

Basham, who has enjoyed a barnstorming start to the season, made things look easy as his power and athleticism enabled him to crash over straight from an attacking scrum.

Cardiff were enjoying themselves and secured the bonus-point try in the 36th minute when Mann crossed to score.

A fizzing try-scoring pass from centre Ben Thomas and an outrageous Hughes dummy were the highlights in the build-up to the try as the hosts led 26-8 at half-time.

The second half started with some more ingenuity from fly-half Callum Sheedy, who last week went viral after heading the ball against Scarlets.

On this occasion, it was his clever grubber kick of a loose ball that went into the hands of Bowen, who skipped over.

Cardiff started the replacement process with hooker Evan Lloyd showing his versatility by covering the back row and coming on for Basham.

The stage was also set for 18-year-old hooker Tom Howe, who was introduced for his senior Cardiff debut.

The alterations did not halt Cardiff’s momentum, initially, with Bowen sprinting over for his second score after being set up by scrum-half Johan Mulder.

Zebre had not given up hope, though, and gained some reward with scores for Ferrari and Bertaccini as the home side became increasingly sloppy.

The Italians secured a bonus-point try as they took advantage of Cardiff inexplicably losing concentration, with Da Re crossing following a searing break from full-back Giovanni Montemauri.

That proved the end of the scoring with Cardiff knowing there can be no repeat of this lacklustre final quarter when they travel to face defending champions Leinster in Dublin next Saturday.

Cardiff: Beetham; Millard, Malan, B Thomas, Bowen; Sheedy, Mulder; Sio, D Hughes, Sebastian, McNally (capt), T Williams, Mann, Botham, Basham.

Replacements: Howe, Barratt, S Wainwright, Thornton, E Lloyd, Bevan, J Evans, Emanuel.

Zebre: Montemauri; Belloni, Bertaccini, Mazza (capt), Gesi; Allan, Dominguez; Pisani, Minervino, Castellano, Canali, Krumov, Ruffolo, Locatelli, Ruggeri

Replacements: Quattrini, Pelliccioli, Barbotti, Ortombina, Ferrari, Guana, Zanon, Da Re.

Referee: Morne Ferreira (SARFU)

Assistant referees: Ben Connor (WRU), Lucas Yendle (WRU)

TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU).