Cardiff start season with bonus point victory as debutants make instant impact

Cardiff got their United Rugby Championship season off to a winning start with a 22-17 bonus point win over Zebre at the Arms Park.

First-half tries from Cameron Winnett, Iwan Stephens and Dan Thomas set them on their way to victory, before Josh McNally's second-half brought up the bonus point win.

Matt Sherratt's second season as head coach began in decent fashion, with the capital side having seemingly wrapped up the result against a side who had managed just one victory last season by the break.

However, despite the result rarely looking in doubt, Cardiff will know other sides in the league won't allow them to switch off as often as they did against Zebre after a sloppy second-half let the Italian outift back in.

That said, in a Cardiff side boasting six debutants in the starting side, Sherratt will have been pleased with how those new faces settled into the blue and black jersey on opening night.

Prop Danny Southworth was industrious, demonstrating soft hands for one impressive catch from close-range, while scrum-half Aled Davies' pinpoint kicking was crucial to Cardiff getting on top.

However, it was the boot of Wales fly-half Callum Sheedy that enjoyed the best of the action in the first-half.

After Zebre fly-half Giovanni Montemauri had kicked the visitors ahead with a long-range penalty, Sheedy's boot proved instrumental to two quick-fire tries that put Cardiff ahead.

Both scores came from nice work between centres Ben Thomas and Rey Lee-Lo on first phase, before Sheedy put boot to ball to find willing recipients out wide.

The first score, after Thomas was dragged down short, saw Sheedy's chip find Wales full-back Winnett to dot down. The second saw the fly-half grubber through for fellow debutant, wing Stephens,