Edinburgh crush Zebre in Guinness PRO12 rout
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 03/04/16 2:48pm
A scrappy 29-0 bonus point win moved Edinburgh ahead of Glasgow in the push for the Scottish spot in next season's Champions Cup.
Zebre have still to win a match in Scotland and have now played 247 minutes without scoring after Friday's defeat.
A poor first half finished with Edinburgh leading 3-0 thanks to a penalty from their recent arrival and former Dragons' player Jason Tovey.
The arrival of subs at the turnaround, notably scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, also brought focus to the home play.
But two tries in five minutes from Damien Hoyland really decided the issue before Hidalgo-Clyne and Alex Toolis crossed. Man of the match Tovey converted the first three scores.
Zebre started well. They camped in the Edinburgh 22 for the opening nine minutes but it was pressure that failed to yield a reward.
On 13 minutes Edinburgh chose to go for the points and Tovey opened his account.
But it was until the start of the second quarter that a clear opportunity presented. Edinburgh back row sub Magnus Bradbury made a 30-metre break that finished with centre Mike Allen's try chalked-off for a forward pass.
Scrum-half Sean Kennedy then tapped a penalty awarded under the crossbar but Bradbury was tackled on the line.
Zebre then conjured a good handling attack it broke down when prop Dario Chistolini dropped the ball three metres from the line.
A long range penalty from Kelly Haimona fell under the bar and the half finished with Zebre hooker Oliviero Fabiani touching down but referee Leighton Hodges called back the score for crossing.
Twelve minutes after the restart Haimona again missed with a penalty. But through the subsequent broken play Hidalgo-Clyne kicked smartly for left winger Hoyland to score the first try of the night.
Five minutes later, Hoyland touched down again this time finding space to finish after the forwards were held close the line.
Ten minutes from the end Tovey got things moving and Stuart McInally sent in Hidalgo-Clyne for the third try before Toolis touched down for the fourth in the final minute.
