Cardiff bowed out of the Challenge Cup as they came up just short after staging a remarkable comeback in this last 16 tie in Treviso.

They trailed 28-7 midway through the first half but roared back to cut the deficit to just three points and set up a grandstand finish.

But as they pounded away at the opposition line in the dying minutes they just couldn’t quite come up with the winning score.

The Arms Park outfit came tantalisingly close to completing one of the great turnarounds, but in the end it wasn’t to be as they went down to a heartbreaking defeat.

Yet they contributed a huge amount to a compelling 11-try contest with winger Jacob Beetham scoring two of their five touchdowns.

They had gone into the game showing seven changes from the side that picked up a valuable losing bonus point in last weekend’s narrow 21-15 URC defeat to the Sharks in Durban.

With locks Josh McNally, George Nott, Teddy Williams, Ben Donnell and Tom Cottle all sidelined, young No 8 Evan Rees stepped into the second row.

It was a first competitive start for Rees and the same went for another 20-year-old with Elijah Evans lining up at outside centre.

Former Leinster prop Ed Byrne made a long-awaited return as he packed down at loosehead for the first time since November 2024, with flanker Alex Mann back on board following his Six Nations heroics with Wales.

Blindside Mann was joined in the back row by Alun Lawrence and Dan Thomas, with breakways Taulupe Faletau and Taine Basham having suffered injuries against the Sharks and James Botham being rested as he went straight to South Africa following the Six Nations.

With Johan Mulder joining fellow scrum-half Aled Davies on the casualty list, Ellis Bevan wore No 9, while Beetham was drafted in on the wing, with the fit-again Evan Lloyd included among the replacements.

Lloyd was one of two hookers named on the bench, alongside Daf Hughes, as he joined Lucas de la Rua in providing back row cover in a throwback to the early days of his career.

The first half was to prove an extraordinary affair with four tries in the opening 14 minutes and eight in all.

There was hardly time to draw breath with the scoring being as fast and furious as the action.

The first try came after just eight seconds with the ball bouncing over the head of No 8 Lawrence from Jacob Umaga’s kick off and Italy star centre Tommaso Menoncello gleefully pocketing it to touch down.

It has to be one of the quickest scores in the 30-year history of European cup rugby.

Benetton doubled their lead just a couple of minutes later when slick hands from centre Leonardo Marin put Umaga into a gap with the fly-half slicing through to the line.

Cardiff then responded with a try that saw a big double involvement from Mason Grady. The winger pulled off an interception which drew a penalty for offside and from the resulting attacking lineout he made a big midfield carry.

It was then over to the forwards with a succession of close quarter carries culminating in hooker Liam Belcher forcing his way over.

But Benetton soon stretched further ahead as they crossed twice in the space of two minutes.

First prop Thomas Gallo powered through off a tap penalty and then they struck again straight from the restart, with Menencello collecting Marin’s chip over the top from inside the 22 and full-back Rhyno Smith acting as the link to send Umaga racing away.

As the game moved into the second quarter, Cardiff constructed a well worked score off a tap penalty with Dan Thomas working a switch with Lawrence and Beetham delivering the strong finish.

Benetton then claimed their fifth try as a Menoncello break was followed by a pass between his legs by co-centre Marin which paved the way for wing Onisi Ratave to barge over.

But it was Cardiff who piled on the pressure in the closing minutes of the half and they were rewarded with another try off a tap penalty as Mann and Thomas combined to send their back row pal Lawrence across the whitewash.

That brought down the curtain on a truly astonishing first half with Benetton’s lead having been cut to 33-21.

The tries continued to come thick and fast after the break with two more in the opening five minutes.

First the outstanding Menoncello stormed down the right touchline and then the visitors hit back as scrum-half Ellis Bevan was sent under the posts by Lawrence who had been put into a hole by a delayed pass from Callum Sheedy.

That try also saw Benetton reduced to 14 men as Umaga was yellow carded for a no arms tackle on Lawrence after the No 8 had given the scoring pass.

Capitalising on their numerical advantage, Cardiff cut the deficit to just three points when Beetham stuck out a hand to block Andy Uren’s pass and caught the rebound to cross for his second.

Then came the dramatic finish as the visitors repeatedly came within inches of the try line only to ultimately be denied the winning score.

So it’s Benetton who progress to host Exeter in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.