Benetton Rugby boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the European Rugby Challenge Cup helped by a hat-trick of tries by scrum half Tito Tebaldi in Pool 5.

The home side began well to establish a 12-0 advantage inside the first 15 minutes through a brace of tries by Tebaldi who finished strongly on both occasions while fly-half Ian McKinley added one conversion.

But Agen kept their composure and gradually gained a foothold in the game through a penalty by scrum-half Hugo Verdu close to the half-hour.

The visitors then gave themselves a major lift two minutes from the interval when number eight Loic Hocquet found a gap in the defence and strode over for a try which Verdu converted to cut the deficit to two points at the break.

https://twitter.com/agen_rugby/status/1084098966776627200

But Benetton took a firm grip on proceedings with a three-try burst in the opening 20 minutes of the second period.

Fijian Ratuva Tavuyara finished off some good handling to cross twice and fellow winger Monty Ioane also crossed following a neat build-up.

Then with 15 minutes remaining Tebaldi completed his hat-trick to effectively settle matters.

https://twitter.com/BenettonRugby/status/1084110056193429504

Agen kept going right to the end and their persistence was rewarded with tries by centre Sam Vaka and prop Giorgi Tetrashvili both converted by replacement Thomas Vincent.

Pool 5 has been closely contested and the final standing will be decided next Friday evening when Benetton travel to Grenoble and Agen host Harlequins.