Zebre stun Edinburgh at Murrayfield

Editor

Zebre moved off the foot of the PRO12 table after claiming a dramatic 19-14 victory over Edinburgh at Murrayfield on Friday.

The Italians had led a largely dull affair rather comfortably heading into the latter stages thanks to four penalties from Carlos Canna, but two tries from the hosts appeared to have handed them the points and a route back up the table.

However, it was the Italians who left Murrayfield victorious on the road for the first time since January after a mistake at the back allowed Giovanbattista Venditti in for the four league points, leaving the hosts licking their wounds with a solitary losing bonus point.

Canna handed the visitors an early lead, slotting through the posts from a nicely positioned penalty after a continuous bout of pressure. His second three points of the game came after the hosts once again failed to deal with the Zebre offensive line, and Canna was able to coolly slot home the points.

He completed his hat-trick of penalties from the corner on the stroke of half-time, and it was the least Zebre deserved for a dominant first half in which their only complaint would be they had not scored a try.

However, the Italian province took an attitude of 'if it's not broken, don't fix it' into the second half, with Canna once again slotting through the posts after the restart and he had an opportunity for another soon after from a contentious decision, but was off target for the first time on the evening.

However, Zebre were to be punished for their failure to carry the ball over the line, with Edinburgh crossing the whitewash twice in quick succession.

Ross Ford hit the first following good work the big men in the maul to allow the ball to be carried over to Ford, who motored down with the ball. Kinghorn converted and soon after, Murray McCallum levelled up after great determination and spirit finally turned into quality for the hosts.

Hidalgo-Clyne measured up the kick and made no mistake to hand the Murrayfield outfit the lead. But, just as it looked like Edinburgh had stolen the points, Zebre went back ahead after a mistake at the back led to Venditti going over to grab the win, Zebre's first ever in Scotland.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries:
Ford, McCallum
Cons: Kinghorn, Hidalgo-Clyne

For Zebre:
Try:
Venditti
Con: Canna
Pens: Canna 4

Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Damien Hoyland, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Phil Burleigh, 11 Tom Brown, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Sean Kennedy, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 John Hardie, 6 Viliame Mata, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Felipe Arregui, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Jack Cosgrove, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Fraser McKenzie, 20 Cornell Du Preez, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Michael Allen, 23 Glenn Bryce

Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Giulio Bisegni, 13 Tommaso Boni, 12 Tommaso Castello, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Andries Van Schalkwyk, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Maxime Mbandà, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Tommaso D'Apice, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Derick Minnie, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Matteo Pratichetti, 23 Giovanni D'Onofrio

Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy) 
Assistant Referees: Emanuele Tomo (Italy), Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
TMO: Tim Hayes (Wales)