RICHARD COCKERILL’S EDINBURGH were welcomed back to Pro14 life with a bang as they suffered a second-half surge in a 34-16 defeat to Zebre in Parma.
The Scottish capital club went to Italy with 10 changes to the side who demolished Toulon 40-14 in the second round of the Heineken Champions Cup on Saturday but settled to the task at hand in the first half.
A try from D’Arcy Graham and penalties from Simon Hickey and Pierre Schoeman put Edinburgh into a 3-13 half-time lead, but the hosts stormed back in the second period with David Sisi crossing immediately after the restart and Gabriele Di Giulio grabbing a second try on 54 minutes to complete the comeback and give Zebre a 20-16 lead.
That sole Hickey penalty was as good as it got for Edinburgh in the second half. Zebre finished strong, forcing their way to a bonus point win thanks to Carlo Canna’s try with eight minutes to go, and the out-half eventually ended the night with 19 points to his name after converting Tommaso Castello’s score, the fourth try grounded after the clock had gone red.
The bonus point pushed Zebre level with Connacht and Munster on 15 points in Conference A.
In Port Elizabeth, meanwhile, there were bonus points all-round as the Southern Kings lost a 10-try shoot-out at home to the Scarlets.
Bjorn Basson scored the hosts’ fourth try of the day and gave the tourists a problem to solve as the score stood 34-22 with 25 minutes on the clock.
Wayne Pivac’s men, looking to bounce back after losing their opening Champions Cup matches, battled their way back in front with tries from Werner Kruger, Kieran Hardy and Taylor Davies before the hooter to bring the 2017 champions back level on points with Leinster in Conference B before Leo Cullen’s men take on Benetton tomorrow.
Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42 / SoundCloud
