Edinburgh moved off the foot of the PRO14‘s Conference B with a narrow victory over Benetton on Friday, while Cardiff Blues beat the Cheetahs in another nail-biter.
Edinburgh 31-30 Benetton Rugby
Edinburgh held on for a much needed 31-30 victory over Benetton in an entertaining encounter at Murrayfield.
The two teams traded penalties early on before the hosts scored the first two tries of the match in quick succession. First, Matt Scott went over in the 18th minute. Then, after a conversion from Simon Hickey, Duhan van der Merwe set the fly-half up for another easy kick, running in under the sticks from 30 metres out.
Luca Sperandio hit back in the 24th minute, diving over in the corner, but Edinburgh responded in style 11 minutes later, with Blair Kinghorn finishing off a well-worked backline move.
Cherif Traore dived over to narrow Edinburgh’s lead again on the stroke of half-time, with Tommaso Allan’s conversion taking the score to 24-15 at the break.
Edinburgh drew first blood in the second-half, with Kinghorn’s looping pass setting up Dougie Fife to score in the corner in the 48th minute. However, once again, Sperandio scored shortly afterwards to tighten the game up again.
The winger had his hat-trick in the 61st minute, with TMO Andrew McMenemy ruling that he had not put a foot in touch. By this stage, Benetton were in striking distance of taking the lead.
A 71st minute yellow card for Grant Gilchrist left Edinburgh in a difficult position, which was not helped when Marco Barbini drove over the try-line from close range straight afterwards.
However, Benetton were made to pay for only adding the extras to one of their five tries, with two missed conversions apiece from Allan and Ian McKinley proving to be their downfall.
The scorers:
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Scott, Van der Merwe, Kinghorn, Fife
Cons: Hickey 4
Pen: Hickey
Yellow Cards: Gilchrist
For Benetton:
Tries: Sperandio 3, Traore, Barbini
Con: Allan
Pen: Allan
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Dougie Fife, 13 Chris Dean, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Simon Hickey, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 WP Nel, 2 Stuart McInally (c), 1 Allan Dell
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Fraser McKenzie, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Nathan Fowles, 22 Darcy Graham, 23 Juan Pablo Socino
Benetton Rugby: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Luca Sperandio, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Marco Barbini, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dean Budd (c), 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Cherif Traore
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Derrick Appiah, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Ian McKinley, 23 Ignacio Brex
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Elgan Williams (Wales), Keith Allen (Scotland)
Television match official: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
Cardiff Blues 24-21 Cheetahs
Cardiff Blues narrowly denied the Cheetahs their first victory of the season with a nail-biting 24-21 victory at Cardiff Arms Park.
Both teams were afforded opportunities to take the lead from the kicking tee in the opening 10 minutes, but Tian Schoeman and Gareth Anscombe missed their first penalties.
The Cheetahs drew first blood at last in the 19th minute after a scrappy maul from an attacking line-out. Walt Steenkamp pounced on the loose ball to score.
However, the South African side gifted Cardiff Blues a try just seven minutes later, with Ryno Eksteen fumbling Anscombe’s kick through and Rey Lee-Lo pouncing onto the loose ball to score. Referee George Clancy went upstairs to Jon Mason to check for a knock-on from the centre, but to the surprise of many, the try stood.
Conversions from Schoeman and Anscombe, as well as a late penalty from the latter, saw Cardiff Blues take a 10-7 lead into the half-time break.
However, the Cheetahs regained their lead nine minutes after the break, with Sibhale Maxwane chasing a clever grubber kick into space and getting to the ball first to ground it for their second try. There was a hint of a forward pass in the build-up, but once again, Mason did not see any issue.
To make matters worse for the hosts, some poor defence allowed the Cheetahs’ centre pairing to rip them to shreds shortly afterwards. Nico Lee’s pass sent Benhard Janse van Rensburg through a gap and he went all the way to the try-line in the 59th minute.
Cardiff rallied and were rewarded after a lengthy spell of pressure six minutes later, with Lloyd Williams going through a gap in the defence to score.
The Blues then regained the lead in the 70th minute after a magnificent effort from a maul. Clancy asked Mason whether or not there was any reason why he could not award the try to Olly Robinson and Mason responded in the negative.
The scorers:
For Cardiff Blues:
Tries: Lee-Lo, L Williams, Robinson
Cons: Anscombe 3
Pen: Anscombe
For Cheetahs:
Tries: Steenkamp, Maxwane, Janse van Rensburg
Cons: Schoeman 3
Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Jason Harries, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Josh Turnbull, 7 Ellis Jenkins (c), 6 Olly Robinson, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 George Earle, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Rhys Gill
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Brad Thyer, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Sion Bennett, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Garyn Smith
Cheetahs: 15 Ryno Eksteen, 14 William Small-Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Nico Lee, 11 Sibhale Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Tian Meyer (c), 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Jean-Pierre Du Preez, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Johannes Coetzee, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Jacques Du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Günther Janse van Vuuren, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Stephan Malan, 21 Daniel Maartens, 22 Shaun Venter, 23 Louis Fouche
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Joy Neville (Ireland), Gwyn Morris (Wales)
Television match official: Jon Mason (Wales)