Stephen Varney: Gloucester scrum-half an ‘asset’ for Benetton semi

Italy scrum-half Stephen Varney hopes he can be a “good asset” for Gloucester on Saturday when they face Benetton in their European Challenge Cup semi-final.

Varney, 22, has been capped 29 times by the Azzurri since making his international debut in 2020 and will face many of his Azzurri team-mates at Kingsholm.

The winner will face either South African side Sharks or French outfit Clermont in the final in London on Friday, 24 May.

“Training with them for a lot of time in the year, I know how they play, I know individually their skillsets as well so I think that will be a good asset on the weekend,” Varney told BBC Points West.

“They’re a physical pack, they’re very well-drilled and their attack is very good as well. They’ve got good backs, good threats individually and they play similar to Italy.”

Benetton supplied 20 players to Italy’s Six Nations squad this year – they enjoyed their best-ever campaign in the tournament – including captain Michele Lamaro, while their head coach Marco Bortolami is a former Cherry and Whites captain.

Gloucester have beaten Benetton the last three times they have met in the Challenge Cup, with a 54-25 win in the group stages in December 2021 the most recent meeting.

“I think they’re a different team now,” said Wales-born Varney, who qualifies for Italy through his mother.

“They’ll probably get stuck into me I imagine because I gave them some chat in camp. [I’m] really looking forward to going up against them, it should be a cracker.”