WHEN you have not won an away game all season, any victory is good enough. So as Duncan Hodge, Edinburgh’s acting head coach admitted, it was hard and unglamorous but all that mattered was the result. Realistically Edinburgh had that sewn up well before the end.
In many ways it was reminiscent of their match earlier in the week against Glasgow Warriors, when Edinburgh dominated enough to pull clear but struggled to turn the territory and possession into clear scoring chances. This time, however, they did manage to create enough to get that confidence-boosting result.
“That is a big monkey off our back,” Hodge said. “Speaking to Ross Ford, he said he had never won at Zebre. I guess he has been here three or four times and not won. To do it at last is a huge positive.
“There are lot of things to tighten up on but to get the away win is good. It makes the flight home a bit easier. Now we have a couple of days off. Our next game is away to Harlequins, which is a huge game for us. That will get everyone going again. There is a lot to be positive about.”
It was a long way from a perfect game from Edinburgh, who looked short on confidence, particularly when they tried to move the ball wide. In the end they had to rely on the boot of Duncan Weir with his four penalties and conversion allowing them to overcome losing the try count three-two, including a home score from the final move of the game to earn the Italians a losing bonus point.
“We had quite a lot of possession without looking massively threatening,” Hodge admitted. “That is partly down to their defence. We did not get as much quick ball as we would have liked. We would have liked to have another try and have a go at a bonus point in the last five minutes but that was not the case.
“It was important to win just for the group and where we are at. We are a young team and saw that in spells. Against Harlequins and Timisoara, we showed we can win games, get confidence and kick on. There is still a lot to work on, masses to work on, but winning is important for this group. It is great just to get a win.”
The first half was pretty much all Edinburgh without them ever looking particularly threatening and on Zebre’s first visit to the Scots’ 22, the Italians scored with Tomasso Boni, the centre, slipping a weak tackle to find the line.
Edinburgh had already harvested the first of Weir’s penalties and added another before they got the breakthrough when Chris Dean was first to react to a loose ball and had the pace to run the score in from half way.
Edinburgh seemed to have made it safe when Blair Kinghorn found space to thread a low kick through the defence for wing Will Helu, the wing, to score.
Even though Carlo Canna, the home fly-half, capitalised on a long period of pressure to grab his side’s second try, Weir kept the scoreboard ticking over and they went into the final seconds with a 12-point lead and all the pressure on Zebre.
With time almost up, however, they lost the ball and the Italians ran it back to the other end of the field where Andries Van Schalkwyk, the No 8, crashed over for the try that brought his side one point from the game. “It was not a glamorous game but we managed to get ahead on the scoreboard. We were disappointed to concede the last try but overall we’re happy,” Hodge said.
Scorers: Zebre: Tries: Boni, Canna, Van Schalkwyk. Cons: Canna (2)
Edinburgh: Tries: Dean, Helu. Con: Weir. Pens: Weir (4)
Zebre: E Padovani; K Baker (M Bellini, 66), T Boni, F Afamasaga, G Venditti; C Canna, M Violi (G Palazzani, 72); A Lovotti (G Roan, 71), T D'Apice (C Festuccia, 56), D Chistolini (P Ceccarelli, 48), Q Geldenhuys (J Furno, 48), G Biagi (C), D Minnie (F Ruzza, 5-14, 58), J Meyer, A Van Schalkwyk.
Edinburgh: B Kinghorn (G Bryce, 76); D Hoyland, C Dean, J Rasolea, W Helu; D Weir (J Tovey, 76), S Kennedy (N Fowles, 66, sin : bin 79-end); A Dell (J Cosgrove, 66), R Ford (C) (N Cochrane, 56), S Berghan (M McCallum, 71), B Toolis, F McKenzie (L Carmichael, 69), M Bradbury, J Ritchie, C Du Preez (V Mata, 66).
Referee: G Conway (Ireland)
Attendance: 2,000
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