After defending exceptionally well against Glasgow only to end up on the losing side twice, Edinburgh got the balance right in Treviso last night to pull off a morale-boosting victory.
The defence was even better than it had been in the 1872 Cup double-header — as it had to be given the way Benetton fought back in the second half from a 15-0 deficit. The difference was that Sean Everitt’s team did enough in attack to put their opponents under a lot more pressure than they did against the Warriors.
It was still touch and go right until the death — unnecessarily so, after replacement fly half Cammy Scott had sent a penalty crashing back off an upright, allowing the home team to launch one last counterattack from their own line. But, if it was a close-run thing at the Stadio Monigo, it was nonetheless a well-merited win, bringing to an end a run of three defeats.
“I think our attack intent was much better tonight,” Everitt, the head coach, said. “We managed to put a lot of phases together. They put our lineout under pressure, but we had opportunities on attack and we defended bravely again. I thought our kicking game was good. There was a hell of a lot of character shown deep in the game as well.
“Sometimes we struggle on attack, but we certainly do get a lot of things right. One of them is our character.”
That character was tested in the build-up to the game when Grant Gilchrist, the veteran lock, pulled out with a dead leg. Edinburgh have been plagued by injuries all season, and, with Duhan van der Merwe, Ewan Ashman, Dylan Richardson and Boan Venter all having been ruled out of the trip to Treviso, the loss of Gilchrist was just one more blow.
However, the visitors showed no ill effects of all those absences in a first half that ended with them 10-0 up. After a scoreless opening quarter, Edinburgh eventually got their reward for some positive play when Ben Vellacott opened the scoring.
A penalty in front of the home posts was tapped, and several phases later the scrum-half darted through a gap in the stretched defence. Ross Thompson converted. The fly half added a penalty to take his team’s lead into double figures. Then Jacob Umaga missed a chance to reduce the deficit when he was wide with a long-range penalty. Benetton came close to breaking their duck in the opening stages of the second half. But as they got into a threatening position, a loose pass led to conceding again.
Graham’s try early in the second half proved crucial for Edinburgh
TIM ROGERS/SHUTTERSTOCK
Darcy Graham hacked the ball ahead twice, and although Leonardo Marin won the race to get there next time, the centre skidded in to send the ball behind his own line. That allowed Graham to touch down almost unopposed and make it 15-0.
Benetton hit back when Thomas Gallo, the Argentine international, ploughed over after a tapped penalty five metres out. Umaga’s conversion made it 7-15, and minutes later the fly half repeated the feat after Malakai Fekitoa scored his team’s second try after further heavy pressure.
With their lead rapidly reduced from 15 points to one, Edinburgh faced a severe test of character and of physical resilience. They would have faced a numerical test too had Liam McConnell been sent to the sin-bin for aerial contact, but the flanker was let off with just a penalty.
The award went to touch and then Benetton launched a full frontal assault on the line — but after four or five charges, they were turned over. Then, with two-and-a-half minutes left, Harri Morris won a penalty deep inside his own half to deny the Italians again. Finally, Scott had that chance to end the game with a penalty in stoppage time, only for his failure to score to force his team into one last defensive effort.
Scorers: Benetton: Tries Gallo (52min), Fekitoa (57). Cons Umaga 2. Edinburgh: Tries Vellacott (21), Graham (48). Pen Thompson (29). Con Thompson.
Benetton M Gallagher; L Lynagh, P Odogwu, L Marin (M Fekitoa 49), I Mendy; J Umaga, A Garbisi (A Uren 49); T Gallo (D Aminu 68), B Bernasconi (N Gasperini 55), S Ferrari (G Zilocchi 57), N Cannone (S Scrafton 67), E Snyman (R Favretto 61), A Izekor, M Lamaro (capt), R Favretto (S Fa’aso’o 52).
Edinburgh J Brown; D Graham, M Currie, J Lang (P O’Conor 78), W Goosen; R Thompson (C Scott 66), B Vellacott (C Shiel 61); P Schoeman, H Morris, O Blyth-Lafferty (P Hill 46), G Young, C Hunter-Hill, T Dodd (L McConnell 60, C Boyle 74), F Douglas, M Bradbury (capt).
Referee P Martin (IRFU).