Edinburgh beat Zebre to keep play-off hopes alive
Ben Vellacott's try was the pick of the bunch for Edinburgh
- Published
United Rugby Championship
Edinburgh: 40 (19)
Tries: Ashman 2, Nel, Dean, Vellacott, Sebastian; Conversions: Healy 3, Scott 2
Zebre: 14 (7)
Tries: Prisciantelli, Trulla; Conversions: Dominguez, Montemauri
Edinburgh kept their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes on track with a bonus-point victory over bottom side Zebre Parma.
Two tries from Ewan Ashman - either side of Geronimo Prisciantelli’s solo effort for the Italians - and one from WP Nel put Edinburgh in charge at the break.
Jacopo Trulla’s try gave the visitors hope, but substitutes Chris Dean, Ben Vellacott and Javan Sebastian crossed to put the game beyond doubt.
The win moves Edinburgh up to sixth in the table before the rest of the weekend's fixtures.
On a gorgeous Edinburgh evening the home side knew anything less than the maximum five points would not be satisfactory against the URC’s bottom side.
The Italians started well until the power of the Edinburgh line-out maul proved too much to handle, with Ashman dotting down for the game’s opening try.
The home crowd watched in disbelief as Prisciantelli fielded a clearance kick inside his own half and proceeded to glide straight through the Edinburgh defence all the way to the line to put the visitors in front.
At times the Edinburgh attack looked somewhat disjointed, but they went back to the tried-and-tested to send Ashman over again at the back of the line-out maul to reclaim the lead at 12-7.
Nel burrowed his way over from close range for try number three just before the break to ensure the home side went in 12 points to the good.
The platform was there for Edinburgh to go on and win comfortably, but that has not been their strong point this season.
An error-strewn start to the second-half prevented any sort of flow to the game, that was until Trulla finished off a period of Zebre pressure to bring the Italians back into the game at 19-12.
Edinburgh’s bench brought some much needed urgency to proceedings and one of the substitutes, Dean, was on hand to collect a brilliant Ben Healy offload to score the fourth try for the hosts.
Vellacott capped a lively cameo off the bench with the fifth try and Sebastian ploughed over in the final play to give the scoreboard a little gloss, but Edinburgh know tougher tests are yet to come.
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt: “Happy with the five points; frustrated with the second half. Credit to Zebre, it’s a team that doesn’t go away.
“We knew we were going to be in a tussle but just glad the guys showed the composure in the last 20 to put it away comfortably.”
Line-ups
Edinburgh: Goosen, Currie, Bennett, Lang, van der Merwe, Healy, Price; Schoeman, Ashman, Nel, Skinner, Gilchrist (C), Ritchie, Watson, Mata.
Replacements: Cherry, Venter, Sebastian, Sykes, Crosbie, Vellacott, Scott, Dean.
Zebre: Prisciantelli, Trulla, Paea, Lucchin, Gesi, Montemauri, Dominguez; Hasa, Ribaldi, Pinitari, Canali, Zambonin, Ferrari, Fox-Matamua, Licata (C)
Replacements: Di Bartolomeo, Taddei, Genovese, Sisi, Stavile, Garcia, Mazza, Pani.
Referee: Ben Breakspear