Matt Currie’s last minute try, converted from the touchline by Cammy
Scott, secured a draw for Edinburgh away to Treviso. Image: © Craig Watson –
www.craigwatson.co.uk 
EDINBURGH just about kept their hunt for a top-eight finish in the URC alive. After stuttering for 80 minutes of their match in Parma, they finally found their attacking flair, allowing centre Matt Currie to go over, and coming man Cammy Scott held his nerve to slot the touchline conversion and pull the scores level.
In reality, a draw was probably more than Edinburgh deserved for long periods of the match, during which they looked off their game, but it speaks volumes for their resilience that they still managed to find their sting when it really mattered, coming back from 19-6 down, culminating in that one moment they needed with the clock in the red to rescue not just a draw, but their league season as well.
In fairness, minds might have been partly on next week’s European Challenge Cup semi-final against Bath, and the late decision to bring the game forward 24 hours might have played a role in the passive opening 40, but they know they played something of a ‘get out of jail’ card in this game.
Arnold Clark Men’s Premiership Final preview: runners, riders and verdict
Scotland Under-19s side selected for England friendly
Arnold Clark Premiership Final: Freddie Owsley eyes a fond Watsonians farewell
Sean Everitt, the coach, acknowledged that although it was nearly worse, this may still not be enough, and Edinburgh probably still need other results to go their way if they are to make the league play-offs. Two bonus-point wins would take them to 49 points and put them in the mix, but it’s a crowded field.
“There’s always a chance on 49 points, but I think 51 makes it safe,” he admitted. “We’re going to have to rely on other results to get through now. Tonight, I was proud of the way the guys came back from 19-6 down to have a chance to win it, but it was not good enough.
“There’s been a massive improvement within the group over the last six or seven weeks. We had a lot of youngsters playing tonight. Harry Paterson hadn’t played for a while and played really well. Cammy Scott nailed a conversion from the corner of the field. There’s a lot to be positive about. But defensively, we weren’t good enough.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win. There were some really good moments in the game that I’m proud of, but we needed to get four or five points tonight. We didn’t do that, so I’m disappointed.”
His side started poorly, just as you would imagine a team expecting to play 24 hours later might, and never really recovered until it was almost too late. It was their opponents who opened the stronger, took the game to the visitors, and, with more confidence and guile, might have made it pay earlier than they did.
Somehow, Edinburgh were able to ride out the storm, and a late tackle on Darcy Graham from Giacomo Da Re, the Zebre fly-half, earned him a yellow-card and gave the Scots their first visit to the red zone, resulting in their first points, with fly-half Ross Thompson kicking the penalty after a scrum fell apart.
It was a false dawn, though. Edinburgh failed to clear their lines from the restart, Zebre found space down the left, then tried their luck down the middle, and when they recycled back left, there was an inch of space for scrum-half Alessandro Fusco to throw a dummy and slip through to score the opening try.
Edinburgh recovered to regain the lead, Thompson again opting to kick the points, but as they had done earlier, they immediately surrendered an attacking position to the home side, which resulted in the second try for the Italians.
It was simplicity itself: line-out, maul, and Fusco somehow smuggled himself through the middle to zip over the line for his second touchdown. With Da Re converting, Zebre had a six-point lead at the break, and Edinburgh had no complaints.
The sense of a problem soon became a crisis as Zebre came out after the break and immediately scored again. They hit up the middle, moved the ball to midfield where blindside wing Simone Gesi found space to race diagonally across the field and put Jacopo Trulla, the full-back, in for the third try.
Was there any way Edinburgh could come back from 13 points down? Certainly, their immediate response was a catalogue of mistakes that suggested otherwise, but luckily, errors can sometimes work to your advantage. Edinburgh made a mess of a line-out on the home line, but when the ball went loose, Boan Venter, the prop, was first to it as the defence scattered, and he had a clear run to the line.
It took a goal-line turnover from flanker Hamish Watson to stop the Italians hitting straight back, as Gesi almost jinked his way over, but as the replacements started to flood on, Edinburgh were slowly improving.
There was no stopping the bullocking charge from Venter as he battered his way through the home backline and claimed his second comeback try.
The Thompson conversion made it a one-point game, but a yellow-card for Ben Muncaster, the Edinburgh flanker, meant they faced most of the final minutes a man down. It took an interception from wing Jack Brown to relieve the pressure as Zebre turned the screw, but when the visitors returned to the Scots’ 22, they took the points on offer, with replacement fly-half Giovanni Montemauri slotting a penalty.
He added another to make sure his side couldn’t lose, only to set up that dramatic finish with Graham powering through the middle and setting up Currie for the try, before Scott showed nerves of steel to nail the extras.
Minds now turn to Bath and that semi-final next week, with Ewan Ashman expected to be fit, while players rested for this game should strengthen the team. Should Edinburgh have played Pierre Schoeman and Jamie Ritchie?
“We try to stagger the breaks,” Everitt explained. “Darcy [Graham] had his break last week. It would have had to be either Connacht or Ulster or the semi-final if they [Schoeman and Ritchie] had played in this game. The semi-final would have taken them to six games.”
Fortunately, it is a fresh start—and at least they didn’t lose. That’s the important thing.
Teams –
Zebre Parma: J Trulla; S Gregory, F Paea, D Mazza (L Morisi, 73), S Gesi; G Da Re (G Montemauri, 69), A Fusco (G Garcia, 55); D Fischetti (C) (P Buonfiglio, 69), T Di Bartolomeo (L Bigi, 64), (J Pitinari, 50), M Hasa, M Canali, L Krumov, G Ferrari (A Zambonin, 65), B Stavile (R Nasove, 62), G Licat.
Edinburgh: H Paterson; D Graham, M Currie, J Lang (M Tuipulotu, 53), J Brown; R Thompson (C Scott, 72), A Price (C Shiel, 69); B Venter (R Hislop, ), P Harrison (H Morris, 69), D Rae (A Williams, 65), G Young, S Skinner (G Gilchrist, 46), B Muncaster, H Watson (F Douglas, 73), M Bradbury (C).
Referee: Ben Connor (WRU)
Scorers –
Zebre Parma: Try: Fusco, 2, Trulla; Cons: Da Re, 2; Pens: Montemauri 2.
Edinburgh: Try: Venter 2, Currie; Con: Thomson, Scott; Pens: Thomson, 2.
Scoring sequence (Zebre Parma first): 0-3; 5-3; 5-6; 10-6; 12-6 (h-t) 17-6; 19-6; 19-11; 19-16; 19-18; 22-18; 25-18; 25-25; 25-25.
Yellow cards –
Zebre: Da R (18 mins).
Edinburgh: Muncaster (65 min)
Our Edinburgh-based experts advise both individuals and businesses across a range of sectors, providing accountancy, audit and assurance, business advisory, tax and VAT services. Founded in 1855, Saffery is the 15th largest accountancy firm in the UK by turnover and has had a presence in Edinburgh for over 30 years. Website: www.saffery.com