The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Edinburgh squeeze past Zebre with late penalty to end run of Pro14 losses
A late Duncan Weir penalty lifted Edinburgh to a nervy 16-15 victory over Zebre.
Richard Cockerill’s side, who had lost their previous three matches in Guinness Pro14 including against another Italian side Treviso, were not at their best in an unconvincing display.
Marcello Violi starred with 10 points for the visitors, while Johan Meyer also touched down but it was Stuart McInally’s brilliant first-half effort that was the standout moment of a tight encounter.
After a cagey opening to the game with both sides looking for the territorial advantage, it was the hosts who had the first significant foray into their opponents’ half.
They turned down two opportunities to kick for the posts in order to prove their strength up front, and a couple of strong mauls soon brought about a third penalty.
This time Jason Tovey accepted the invitation and put his side 3-0 up.
Zebre should have replied instantly, however. The Glasgow defence was pinged at the breakdown, offering Violi the chance to kick from bang in front of the posts, just 22 yards out, only to miss horribly in front of a disbelieving crowd.
Tommaso Boni made amends soon after, offloading brilliantly to Meyer, and the flanker raced through another tackle before leaving Dougie Fife flat on his backside after a poor tackle to touch down for the first try of the game.
However, the hosts were soon back on top as McInally found a brilliant line through the defence before the frontrow forward raced under the posts from inside his own half, with Weir adding the extras to make it 10-5 at the break.
Zebre had clearly come to play and, after being penned back during the early stages of the second half, produced another brilliant move to exploit space down their left wing as Ciaran Gaffney flung a fine offload out of the tackle before Giovanbattista Castello was tackled into touch five metres out.
However, a scything cross-field run from Fife brought a penalty in the visitors’ 22, which Weir made no mistake with.
The eight-point gap was immediately cut as Violi charged down an attempted kick by Nathan Fowles before sneaking in under the posts, and his side were ahead with just over 10 minutes to go after he bisected the posts with two more kicks.
An aggressive response from the hosts saw Weir restore the lead with a simple penalty in the 70th minute before Edinburgh closed out the game in front of a tense crowd.
Edinburgh: Kinghorn, Fife, J Johnstone, Burleigh, Brown, Tovey, Fowles, Marfo, McInally, Nel, B Toolis, Gilchrist, Bradbury, Ritchie, Du Preez. Replacements: Ford, Dell, Berghan, Bresler, Crosbie, Hidalgo-Clyne, Weir, Fruean.