Second-half surge takes Edinburgh into PRO12 top six

AFTER a first half in which they could only score a single penalty, Edinburgh had substitute Sam Hidalgo-Clyne to think for a vastly improved second half which saw them crush their hapless Italian opponents. The Scotland scrum-half was involved in all four tries that gave his team a bonus-point win, scoring one himself and starting the moves that led to the other scores for Damien Hoyland, who got two, and Alex Toolis.

The result lifts Edinburgh up to fifth in the PRO12 table, but both Munster and Glasgow could go above them today. All the same, Alan Solomons was understandably pleased with his players’ reaction after the break.

“We had 40 minutes to save our season, basically,” the coach said. “We got the critical bonus point.

“Sam definitely increased the tempo a little bit, and that’s what replacements are there to do. And I thought Jason Tovey was outstanding - he gave us direction and he kicked magnificently. He’s a really good distributor of the ball and I thought he had a really good game.”

Edinburgh were forced to defend for the first five minutes, and although they held firm, they lost Mike Coman at the end of that spell. The captain, who was making his 50th appearance and was also returning from injury, had to go off because of a recurrence of a calf strain and was replaced by Magnus Bradbury. Coman had been out for some time, and his prospects of playing again this season are not looking good, according to Solomons.

Once the home team succeeded in breaking out of their own half, they quickly got off the mark with a penalty from stand-off Tovey, who was making his first appearance after joining from Newport Gwent Dragons. Edinburgh initially appeared to have got the second score too after a Bradbury break ended with Michael Allen crossing the line, but a replay revealed that the ‘scoring’ pass from Phil Burleigh had gone forward, and that Allen had failed to touch down correctly.

Zebre fought back, but were themselves guilty of avoidable errors, one of which, a knock-on, denied them a probable try. They had a chance to equalise seven minutes before half-time when Kelly Haimona lined up a penalty from 40 metres out, but the Italian international’s kick fell agonisingly short of the posts.

In the last action of the half, Zebre hooker Oliviero Fabiani picked up a loose ball and raced over the line before touching down, but he had only been able to cross unopposed because of a clear act of obstruction by a team-mate. Referee Leighton Hodges ruled out the try and awarded Edinburgh a penalty, but before it could be taken a lacklustre first half was brought to an end.

Stuart McInally replaced Ross Ford for the start of the second half, and Edinburgh were soon deep inside the Zebre half. But after setting up a good position they were too eager to finish the move off, and a knock-on ended the chance to extend their lead.

Haimona was wide with another penalty, and then at last Edinburgh added to their early score. By that time Hidalgo-Clyne had come off the bench as Solomons sought to inject more urgency into his team’s attack, and he quickly made an impact.

Spying an opening inside the Zebre 22, Hidalgo-Clyne smartly kicked ahead as the defence closed around him. Hoyland got to the loose ball around ten yards out, booted it over the line, and dived on it to score. Tovey’s conversion took his team into double figures.

Having broken down an obdurate defence at last, Edinburgh quickly added to their tally. Hidalgo-Clyne again initiated the move with a looping pass to the right, and some quick passing down the line gave Hoyland the opening to cross in the corner. Tovey again added the two points.

A dozen minutes from time, Tovey produced the break that led to a third try for the home team. He offloaded to McInally inside the Zebre 22, and when the hooker was hauled to the ground Hidalgo-Clyne was quickest to react, snatching up the ball and racing over the goal line. Tovey was on target again with the conversion, and a match that had hung in the balance for long enough was now entirely within Edinburgh’s control.

That score left them just one try short of a bonus point, and they got it with the last play of the game. They ran a penalty inside the Italians’ 22, and after some rapid recycling Hidalgo-Clyne supplied the scoring pass to late substitute Alex Toolis in the left corner. Tovey was off target for the first time, but it was nonetheless a rousing conclusion to a second half that was as bright as the first 40 minutes had been dull.

EDINBURGH: Tries: Hoyland 2, Hidalgo-Clyne, A Toolis. Cons: Tovey 3. Pen: Tovey.

Edinburgh: B Kinghorn; D Hoyland, M Allen (C Dean 56), P Burleigh, T Brown (W Helu 75); J Tovey, S Kennedy (S Hidalgo-Clyne 49); A Dickinson (A Dell 67), R Ford (S McInally 41), W Nel (J Andress 74), A Bresler (A Toolis 74), B Toolis, M Coman (M Bradbury 6), H Watson, C du Preez.

Zebre: K van Zyl; U Beyers, T Boni, M Pratichetti, L Sarto; K Haimona, G Palazzanni (L Burgess 68); A Lovotti, O Fabiani, D Chistolini (P Ceccarelli 47), Q Geldenhuys, M Bortolami, J Cook (G Koegelenberg 60), F Ruzza (E Caffini 36), J Meyer. Unused substitutes: B Postiglioni, G Roan, C Canna, G Bisegni.

Referee: L Hodges (Wales). Attendance: 3,799.