IT wasn’t just the blistering Italian heat that had Alan Solomons, the Edinburgh head coach, sweating at the end of this match. Having put on a 35-minute performance of near second-half perfection the exhaustion of a tough pre-season had caught up with his men who could, and probably should, have lost the game at the end.
They were right under the cosh, having conceded a series of scrums and penalties on their own line, they were down to 14 men with a prop in the sin-bin and Treviso, only three points down, were going for the kill. Somehow, however, the depleted Edinburgh pack dredged up the strength for one final effort, won the next penalty and a few seconds later were celebrating the win.
“The guts the guys showed to win the game was incredible, absolutely incredible,” Solomons said. “The courage to hang on through scrums on our line, to scrum with seven forwards and still win a penalty to kick it out, win a line-out and end the game – that’s huge. It is a massive win for us. We need a break, this is the right time.”
Until then it has looked as though a long pre-season, a long journey hit by traffic trouble on the way and the bus driver taking a wrong turning plus the searing heat were all going to combine to hand the Italians a comeback win.
“We started hitting the fatigue at the end of the first half and we also picked up a yellow card,” said Solomons. “It impacted into the second half and further on. The tough trip played a big role, it was just one of these things that happened.”
On the plus side, the opening spell showed Edinburgh at their best, producing some of the best rugby they have played for years as the forwards piled into battle and the backs used the space they created to run riot. Two opening quarter tries set them on their way with Phil Burleigh, the fly-half, going over and then wing Damien Hoyland demonstrating his running power to grab the second.
The Italians were kept in the hunt by Jayden Hayward, the Kiwi full-back, who was a constant threat as a runner and served up the points as a kicker but Edinburgh looked comfortable when they managed their third try with Sam Beard crossing.
That ended Edinburgh as an attacking threat though, as mistakes and discipline problems crept into their game. Andrea Pratichetti, th
Scorers: Benetton Treviso: Tries: Pratichetti, Naude.Con: Hayward. Pens: Hayward (4)
Edinburgh: Tries: Burleigh, Hoyland, Beard. Cons: Tonks (3). Pen: Tonks (2)
Benetton Treviso: J Hayward; L Nitoglia, T Iannone, A Pratichetti, S Ragusi; S Christie, C Smylie; A De Marchi (C)(M Zanusso, 50), R Santamaria, R Harden (S Ferrari, 50), D Naude (F Gerosa, 50), T Palmer (J Montauriol, 73), M Barbini (B Steyn, 57), D Budd, R Barbieri.
Edinburgh: G Tonks; D Fife, C Dean, S Beard, D Hoyland (J Cuthbert, 57); P Burleigh (J Johnstone, 65), S Kennedy (N Fowles, 56); R Sutherland (A Dell, 43), N Cochrane (sin bin: 40-50, G Turner, 76), J Andress (S Berghen, 77, sin bin: 78-end), F McKenzie (A Toolis, 64), B Toolis, C Du Preez, R Grant (C) (G Turner, 45-50, H Watson, 50, J Andress, 78-end), N Masi.
Referee: G Conway (Ireland)
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