Edinburgh survive second half scare as URC returns

The second block of the URC season began this weekend with Edinburgh returning to Hive Stadium on Saturday night for a clash with Italian side Benetton.

After a poor start to the season, Sean Everitt’s side needed a successful run of form to start tonight ahead of a tough run of games in Europe and two 1872 Cup matches. Benetton and Edinburgh started on equal footing on the league table – both with 11 points each. 

Confident as ever, Duhan Van der Merwe opened the scoring in the first two minutes with an impressive try up the left hand side, sprinting halfway up the pitch to secure Edinburgh’s first five. Ross Thompson added the extra two.

Ten minutes later the home side almost scored another. Van der Merwe breaking through from even further back, before a miscommunication between the winger and Wes Goosen led to the ball being dropped.

Edinburgh didn’t have to wait long for more points though, Ben Muncaster catching the ball off a line-out out on the left-hand side to slice through for Edinburgh’s second, followed by another successful kick by Thompson. 14-0. 

Edinburgh were playing well, attacking aggressively. The ball deep in the Benneton half for most of the first 40.

They grabbed another try in the 19th minute, The line-out after Ross Thompson’s kick to the corner leading to a scrummage just yards from the goaline. The ball was eventually snuck over by Magnus Bradbury. 

The no. 8 then secured Edinburgh’s bonus point, just over a quarter of the way into the match, catching a poor line-out throw from Marco Manfredi. Bradbury sneaking through on the right hand-side to secure another five.

More good kicking from Thompson continued his so-far perfect conversion record on the night.  Edinburgh were not done in the first half, Paul Hill capitalising from a dropped Benneton ball in the midst of a Edinburgh line-out. 35-0 heading into halftime. 

Almost as soon as Van der Merwe had scored in the first half, Paolo Odogwu added Benetton to the scoreboard two minutes into the second, cutting through an Edinburgh side who seemed as if they hadn’t woken up after halftime.

The conversion was missed but the Treviso side soon scored again, Agustin Creevy breaking through a rough scrimmage just to the right of the posts. The Italians had clearly switched on during the break, clawing two back before the 50 minute mark. And then again, another, after 55 minutes, Creevy claiming the points again before the kick added two. This left the score at 35-19, far away from the easy that Edinburgh had expected going into the half. The home side desperately needed to pick up their game.

The wake up call seemed to come from Ali Price, who broke through a tough looking Benetton defence to catch a well taken popped up pass from Darcy Graham.

Ross thompson’s first unsuccessful kick of the night left it 40-19. Benetton, however, were on the atack right afterwards shifting the ball around the goalline before Alessandro Izekor found the space to break through, the successful conversion reducing the deficit to 14 points.

In a little over 20 minutes Edinburgh had gone from being five tries ahead to just two. It was all to play for with the ball deep into Edinburgh territory and over 15 minutes left. 

Another try went to Benetton reduce Edinburgh’s advantage further, just 7 points. A lineout leading to a score from Malakai Fekitoa. The momentum seemed to be with the Italian side, but a hungry and hopeful Hive Stadium crowd spurred Edinburgh over the line. However, it was not to be, ruled out by TMO, but Edinburgh gained a penalty on the five yard line, a rare second half chance to keep the ball down towards the Beneton goalline. The side looked for a breakthrough, trying to squeeze through a much more Benetton defence.

The try eventually finding it’s way through in the 74th minute, Ben Muncaster just creeping past to spark some belief in the Edinburgh side. The game was far from over, however, and Edinburgh knew this holding on the ball and charging forward again, halting only for a medical checkup on Grant Gilchrist. 

After an almost catastrophic second half performance, the game ended with a successfull Ben Healy penalty, for a final score of 50-33. An superb first half performance was almost outshone by a devastating comeback from Benetton. Edinburgh will feel releaved, and will look ahead to Friday when the EPCR Challenge Cup begins with a trip to Gloucester.

When asked about the game next week, head coach Sean Everitt said “Gloucester beat Northampton today, so it’s not going to be an easy game down there. We’ve been struggling away from home and it’s time for us to build some consistency in winning away.”