Rugby – Edinburgh v Treviso, Guinness PRO12

Two tries for Hoyland as Edinburgh beat Italian visitors

Benetton Treviso were the latest visiting side to suffer defeat at BT Murrayfield as Edinburgh scored three tries on their way to another win and third place in the PRO12 League.

After the usual cagey start from both teams Edinburgh were first with points on the board, courtesy of a Sam Hidalgo-Clyne penalty Sam Hidalgo-Clyne penalty, Damien Hoyland having been denied, what could have been, his first try by the officials.

He got his just reward within five minutes of the restart when Edinburgh followed up a sustained attack on the Treviso defence. The pack set up in the left corner and after a series of rucks, which got ever closer to the line, the ball came back to Hoyland who crashed over in the corner. Hidalgo-Clyne kicked the conversion and, with 14 minutes played, the hosts were 10-0 ahead.

Treviso came back strongly from the restart and pushing Edinburgh back into their 22, won a penalty which No. 10,James Ambrosini knocked over to bring the score up to 10-3.

With Hoyland proving to be a handful, the Italian side weathered a couple of penetrating runs from Edinburgh, but soon regained possession and did some penetrating of their own, but, once again, had to settle for three points from the boot of Ambrosini to take them up to 10-6.

The last 10 minutes of the half were fairly evenly shared, but Hidalgo-Clyne, Hoyland and Matt Scott were worrying the visitors as the three players made strong runs which nearly came good. But, with neither team adding to their score, they went into the break still at 10-6.

Once again, Edinburgh were first off the mark with another Hidalgo-Clyne penalty on 46 minutes to re-extend the gap to 7 points with a 13-6 scoreline.

A few minutes later, following a powerful run up the centre by No. 1, Rory Sutherland, the recycled ball found itself over near the right touchline with Dougie Fife, but he was pulled up a metre, or so, from the line by a fine covering tackle. Matt Scott did a fine job of running the ball back and, once again, Treviso transgressed and gave Hidalgo-Clyne another shot at goal. 16-6 with an hour of the match played.

Ten minutes later, after a dominant period of play which saw the home side make several incursions into ‘enemy territory’, Edinburgh had their second try. Treviso were unable to gain ground and, following a series of penalties and rucks, the referee went under the posts for a penalty try. Hidalgo-Clyne once again slotted the kick home and the score was 23-6.

With the substitutions beginning to roll on, Treviso took the opportunity to press and pushed Edinburgh back. A couple of penalties saw them up near the Edinburgh line and once they got the ball moving it was only a matter of time before they scored. And score they did as No. 16,Ornel Gega, went over for a try. Ambrosini then kicked the conversion and it was 23-13 and a yellow card for Alex Toolis.

Down to 14, Edinburgh then weathered an assault on their line, and Treviso, once again crossed the whitewash, but the referee had deemed a ‘double movement’ from the scorer so a sigh of relief – and a penalty – for the home side gave them a chance to clear their lines.

With the clock ticking, and Toolis back on, Edinburgh were playing the game in the Treviso half and, with the pack on song, and less than two minutes to play, Treviso had two men binned in quick succession giving the hosts a two man advantage to take into the final second.

And it was time they made good use of, as wave after wave of bodies were flung at the visitors’ defence with the final score of the match going to Hoyland. He scored through a ruck as he picked the ball off the floor and threw himself at the line, squirming out of a tackle to dot the ball down for his second try of the match. With Hidalgo-Clyne having been substituted, it fell to Greg Tonks to add the extras, but he slammed the ball off the post to leave the final score at 28-11.

Edinburgh now lie third in the table, tied on 36 points with Scarlets, but have played, at least, one more game than almost everybody, so that could change as the matches even themselves out over the coming weeks.

Images from the match will appear here over the next few days.