Zebre 19-24 Edinburgh in United Rugby Championship: Sean Everitt's side fight back to win
- Published
Venter's try gave Edinburgh momentum in a game they had been treading water in
URC: Zebre v Edinburgh |
|---|
Zebre: (10) 19 |
Tries: Garcia Con: Montemauri Pens: Montemauri 3, Prisciantelli |
Edinburgh: (3) 25 |
Tries: Venter, Penalty, Cherry Cons: Healy 2 Pen: Healy |
Edinburgh scored three second-half tries to fight back against Zebre in Italy and move up to fourth in the United Rugby Championship table.
Simone Gesi's darting break fed Gonzalo Garcia to gave Zebre an early lead that helped the home side to a 10-3 lead after a low-quality opening period.
However Boan Venter's try and a penalty try gave improved Edinburgh the lead midway through the second period.
Dave Cherry stormed off the back of a maul to cross late and seal the win.
Ben Healy was typically accurate with his boot, kicking his two conversion attempts as well as a first-half penalty for Sean Everitt's side at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
Giovanni Montemauri converted Garcia's try and also kicked three penalties while Geronimo Prisciantelli knocked over a late three-pointer that took the Italian side within five points and thus secured a losing bonus point.
Improving Zebre - who beat Dragons and were edged out by a point against Pau last month in the Challenge Cup - made life hard for the visitors with disciplined defence and aggression at the breakdown.
The win moves Edinburgh to within a point of rivals Glasgow in the URC and just four points off top-of the-table Leinster.
Zebre remain cut adrift from the rest of the table in fourth-bottom but will be encouraged by another strong showing against one of the league's best sides as they picked up their seventh losing bonus point of the season.
'Lack of accuracy on our side'
Edinburgh head coach Everitt, talking to Viaplay
"It was a tough 55 minutes for us, actually you could call it 65 if you want. Credit to Zebre, they stopped our momentum and disrupted our breakdown and we couldn't get any continuity going or any momentum on our carries either.
"I thought they defended really well and on top of that they put us under pressure which led to us being ill disciplined in the first half as we conceded 13 turnovers.
"A lack of accuracy on our side but credit to them, they put up a massive fight. Fortunately our set-piece pulled us through at the end."