Hat-trick for Hughes as Cardiff claim bonus point

A HAT-TRICK of tries from hooker Dafydd Hughes helped Cardiff claim a 29-14 bonus point victory over Zebre in Parma to fire the Welsh club to the top of the United Rugby Championship table.

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Cardiff were missing 10 players to Wales duty while a further five were out injured, but they still had enough to get past Zebre.

Both first choice hookers, Liam Belcher and Evan Lloyd, were absent but Hughes stepped up to bag three tries while Taine Basham also touched down. Ioan Lloyd and Harri Wilde kicked nine points between them.

All Zebre could muster was two tries from Giovanno Licata and Marco Zanon.Cardiff drew first blood when dynamic hooker Hughes powered over from short range off the back of a well-worked driving lineout with Lloyd adding the extras.