Zebre nilled by super Edinburgh

Editor

Edinburgh racked up a try bonus point in 50 minutes as they nilled Zebre at Murrayfield, triumphing 37-0 in the Pro12.

Roddy Grant and Dougie Fife tries, alongside the typically accurate kicking of Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, gave the Scottish outfit a deserved 20-0 lead at the interval.

Three yellow cards also didn't help the visitors' cause and, after Matias Aguero had been sin-binned, Ross Ford and Grant touched down to secure the bonus-point. Stuart McInally then went over in the final minute as Edinburgh kept their top-six hopes alive.

Alan Solomons' team were looking to improve their Champions Cup ambitions and they controlled the opening quarter of the encounter. Grant duly scored in the eighth minute for the try their play deserved before Hidalgo-Clyne extended that lead to 10-0 soon after.

It was a poor start to the game for a Zebre side who could still qualify for the European top-tier competition despite going into the game in bottom position. With an Italian club guaranteed a place in the Champions Cup the visitors had plenty to play for, but the basement dwellers did little to suggest they had the ability to overturn Benetton Treviso in the table.

Instead, the hosts controlled proceedings and Fife increased the Gunners' advantage after a turnover at the lineout allowed the winger to go over unopposed.

Dario Chistolini was then yellow carded as the Italian outfit's discipline continued to be awry before Edinburgh's scrum-half was on target from the tee once more.

It seemed it couldn't get much worse for the away side but it did when Giulio Toniolatti was harshly yellow carded just shy of the break.

To Zebre's credit, they managed to keep themselves in contention while Toniolatti was off the field, but a third sin-binning, this one for Aguero, proved costly.

Two tries in quick succession from Ford and Grant, while the prop was off the field, secured the bonus-point and ended the match as a contest.

Although the visitors continued to battle, they struggled to break down Edinburgh's defence. Instead, the Scottish side went on the attack in the final minute and McInally crossed the whitewash for a comfortable victory.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Grant 2, Fife, Ford, McInally
Cons: Hidalgo-Clyne 3
Pens: Hidalgo-Clyne 2

For Zebre:
Yellow Cards: Chistolini, Toniolatti, Aguero

Edinburgh: 15 Tom Brown, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Sam Beard 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Phil Burleigh, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 8 Mike Coman (c), 7 Roddy Grant, 6 Stuart McInally, 5 Ben Toolis, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Neil Cochrane, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 John Andress, 19 Fraser McKenzie, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Tom Heathcote, 23 Carl Bezuidenhout.

Zebre: 15 Hendrik Daniller, 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Mirco Bergamasco, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 David Odiete, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani, 8 Samuela Vunisa, 7 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 6 Filippo Cristiano, 5 Marco Bortolami (c), 4 Valerio Bernabò, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Andrea Manici, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Oliviero Fabiani, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Luca Redolfini, 19 Andrei Mahu, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Alberto Chillon, 22 Matteo Pratichetti, 23 Brendon Leonard.

Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Assistant referees: Mike Adamson (Scotland), Stephen Hart (Scotland)
TMO: Jim Yuille (Scotland)