FIRSTDEFEAT:EDINBURGHFALLTOHOMETREVISOLOSS

Edinburgh suffered their first defeat of the Pro14 campaign when they were beaten 20-17 at home by Benetton Treviso.

Edinburgh led at half-time through a brace of tries from Chris Dean, both converted by Duncan Weir, while the visitors responded with a touchdown from Angelo Esposito, which Ian McKinley converted before adding a penalty. Esposito made it a double in the second half and McKinley added the conversion as well as a penalty to hand Benetton an advantage which was cut to three points following a Weir penalty.

Edinburgh had enjoyed the territorial advantage but it was the 18th minute before they finally converted that superiority into points. Robbie Fruean raced into space and freed Dean with a bullet pass. Weir banged over the touchline conversion.

The tally doubled six minutes later Weir delivered the scoring pass for Dean to dart in for a second time, then added the conversion. The Italians’ first sustained assault on the home defence yielded a try as Esposito crashed over.

Benetton ended the half with 14 men after Engjel Makelara was yellow carded but trimmed the deficit to four points with a close-range penalty by McKinley.

Benetton moved to within a point when McKinley landed his second penalty after Magnus Bradbury earned a yellow for kicking the ball in a ruck. The visitors moved in front after 51 minutes. Captain Dean Budd carried the ball into contact and when it was recycled, a looping pass found Esposito in space and the winger sprinted in for a converted try.

Edinburgh clawed back three points with a penalty by Weir and mounted a string of attacks that repeatedly foundered despite yellow cards for Cherif Traore and Alberto De Marchi.