Nightmare continues for lowly Edinburgh

EDINBURGH slumped to a record eighth successive PRO12 defeat as their season went from bad to worse at Stadio Monigo.

The win, only their fourth of the season, took the Italians off the bottom of the table and one point ahead of Zebre in the race for a Champions Cup ticket.

Edinburgh dominated territory and possession in the opening quarter, but found the Treviso defence rather more resolute than it had been at the Scarlets the previous weekend. Chris Dean and Damien Hoyland threatend to break through, but it was Jason Tovey’s boot that opened the scoring after 24 minutes.

Tovey’s opposite number Ian McKinley replied two minutes later and added a second penalty to take the lead after Edinburgh came under pressure at the scrum. Treviso went straight back onto the attack from the re-start and after forcing Edinburgh to concede a 5m scrum they opted for another set-piece from a penalty.

The Edinburgh pack managed to keep this one up, but they couldn’t stop No.8 Robert Barbieri picking up and crashing over for the first try. McKinley’s conversion made it 13-6 to Treviso at the break.

McKinley then gave the Italians the perfect start to the second half with a third penalty and Edinburgh were forced to defend a five metre line-out before clearing their lines moments later. Tovey then cut the gap with a second penalty, but the home side hit back immediately with a try from wing Angelo Esposito that owed everything to fast hands in the back line.