Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January

by **George Carlin** Mon 4 Jan 2016 - 19:51

First topic message reminder :

Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January - Page 2 Edinbu10

Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January - Page 2 Trevis11

Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso
Friday 8 January 2016
KO 19:30
BT Murrayfield

[Not currently listed as being on TV]

Referee: Gary Conway (IRFU, 20th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Mike Adamson, Stephen Hart (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)

A. Head to Head

11 Played 11
7 Wins 4
4 Losses 7
0 Draws 0
265 Points 194

B. Current Form

Edinburgh Rugby
2/1/16 Glasgow 11 - 14 Edinburgh
27/12/15 Edinburgh 23 - 11 Glasgow
18/12/15 Edinburgh 18 - 15 London Irish

Benetton Treviso
3/1/16 Treviso 8 - 18 Zebre
27/12/15 Zebre 28 - 25 Treviso
19/12/15 SF Paris 40 - 14 Treviso

C. Teams

Edinburgh Rugby

15 Jack Cuthbert
14 Dougie Fife
13 Michael Allen
12 Matt Scott
11 Damien Hoyland
10 Greig Tonks
9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne

1 Rory Sutherland
2 Neil Cochrane
3 W P Nel
4 Anton Bresler
5 Alex Toolis
6 Mike Coman (captain)
7 John Hardie
8 Cornell Du Preez

16 Stuart McInally
17 Allan Dell
18 John Andress
19 Jamie Ritchie
20 Magnus Bradbury
21 Sean Kennedy
22 Blair Kinghorn
23 Andries Strauss

Benetton Treviso
Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January - Page 2 Marian11

Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January - Page 2 Marian11

15 Luke McLean
14 Andrea Pratichetti
13 Sam Christie
12 Alberto Sgarbi
11 Simone Ragusi
10 James Ambrosini
9 Chris Smylie

8 Robert Barbieri
7 Alessandro Zanni ( C )
6 Marco Barbini
5 Jeff Montauriol
4 Filo Paulo
3 Salesi Manu
2 Roberto Santamaria
1 Matteo Zanusso

16 Ornel Gega
17 Cherif Traorè
18 Alberto De Marchi
19 Tom Palmer
20 Francesco Minto
21 Marco Lazzaroni
22 Alberto Lucchese
23 Enrico Bacchin

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 0:49

George Carlin wrote:
funnyExiledScot wrote:Is Dubai a move of choice or was it "suggested" by the powers that be?
I have decided to try to emulate you more by (a) going in-house, (b) moving to Stockbridge and (c) setting fire to £50 notes in front of homeless people. Well, one of these, anyway.

Congratulations - wise move. Although it does mean you'll have more time to look after the kids.....

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 0:55

Hopefully Bradbury can replace Du Preez on 50 minutes or so. Both to give Du Preez a rest and finally see what Bradbury can do!

Kinghorn is our reserve 10 too so hopefully he can get some gametime.

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 1:01

Strauss and Andress aside it's a pretty great bench for introducing young SQ talent into the Pro12. Hopefully the starting XV can lay a decent platform so that they can come on and really make an impact.

by VinceWLB Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 8:14

This is a scrath Treviso side. That's their 4th best tighthead starting and they have no TH cover on the bench as all the other TH are injured. Edinburgh should really hammer them.

Worrying that Ben Toolis is back to the injury list for his shoulder again.
Gutted Berghan isn't getting any gametime but i guess Andress must be showing prowess in training that we have never seen..

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 8:18

To be fair to Andress he's generally done a decent job for us this season.

by VinceWLB Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 8:22

And we will never know if Berghan would have done any better!

Also noticed all changes are injury forced. That's a very tough policy AS is adopting, basically if you can walk you play. The worst thing is AS doesn't seem to have learnt from his mistakes of the last 2 seasons when Edinburgh badly faded away towards the end.

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 8:30

No denying that.

There is still time to address it though - the Solomons of last year would play the same team over the next 2 Euro games.

I desperately hope he rests players instead.

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 18:59

I suspect we'll see the usual story tonight - we'll have complete set piece dominance and control possession and territory, milking penalties and a try or two from a rolling maul and a penalty try after one of their props gets binned. We won't do much else apart from that.

Despite the dominance we'll still not have the 4th try secured by the 60 minute mark and will start to get nervous, but after a series of botched attempts we'll stumble over the line.

Sound about right??

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 20:41

RDW_Scotland wrote:I suspect we'll see the usual story tonight - we'll have complete set piece dominance and control possession and territory, milking penalties and a try or two from a rolling maul and a penalty try after one of their props gets binned. We won't do much else apart from that.

Despite the dominance we'll still not have the 4th try secured by the 60 minute mark and will start to get nervous, but after a series of botched attempts we'll stumble over the line.

Sound about right??

Oh ye of little faith. Provided it stays cold and dry I think we'll do quite well tonight. This is a dreadful Treviso team and Solomons has only changed our side where he's had to. Tonks/Scott/Allan is a very decent midfield, and even Jack Cuthbert is on decent form.

Edinburgh 40 - 8 Treviso

5 points heading our way.

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 20:47

I do hope you're right. It is going to be completely baltic tonight but at least it will be dry - no excuses from a handling point of view.

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 20:52

We scored 27 points against them away from home and 32 points against the Dragons at Murrayfield the last time we had soft opposition. I was at that game and the ref was worth at least 15 points for the Dragons.

I think we'll score some tries tonight. It's the point in the season where Edinburgh builds up our expectations, no doubt before we lose 5 in a row and finish the season miserably, with Nel and Du Preez too tired to lace up their boots.

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 20:55

Apparently Du Preez still isn't fully recovered from his ankle injury, and is playing through the pain. What a beast!

Some say that Chuck Norris would lose in a fight to Cornell Du Preez's left pinky toe.

Also, he's still only 24!! Shocked

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 20:58

RDW_Scotland wrote:Apparently Du Preez still isn't fully recovered from his ankle injury, and is playing through the pain. What a beast!

Some say that Chuck Norris would lose in a fight to Cornell Du Preez's left pinky toe.

Also, he's still only 24!!

That is really something isn't it. He could have the Scotland 8 jersey for a good 5-6 years once he qualifies. His ball carrying is ridiculous powerful, and his handling skills are right up there with the backs (and I'm not talking about the Duncan Weir's of this world).

The only quibble with Du Preez for me is workrate. He can tend to come in and out of games. When he's on his game however he is a force of nature.

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 21:17

funnyExiledScot wrote:The only quibble with Du Preez for me is workrate. He can tend to come in and out of games. When he's on his game however he is a force of nature.

I've heard a few people say that but I can't agree - he is an absolutely workhorse IMO.

In the victorious 2nd leg of the 1872 cup he made 18 tackles - the most from any Edinburgh player. He was also joint with Jonny Gray for m made.

He's a beast!

by EWT Spoons Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 22:06

Du Preez is an absolute beast. Solly described him as the complete package when he signed for us, and it's really hard to argue with that description.

If Treviso only have one TH with them for this game, I suspect they may go off 'injured' to force uncontested scrums and remove our advantage.

Would be nice to score a few tries, maybe build a wee lead up so we can see the like of Bradbury & co come on.

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 22:45

EWT Spoons wrote:Du Preez is an absolute beast. Solly described him as the complete package when he signed for us, and it's really hard to argue with that description.

If Treviso only have one TH with them for this game, I suspect they may go off 'injured' to force uncontested scrums and remove our advantage.

Would be nice to score a few tries, maybe build a wee lead up so we can see the like of Bradbury & co come on.

That would be my concern as well - the "London Wasps tactic", where they used to cry off scrums and then bring on Joe Worsley as a prop (meaning they had an additional tackling machine in the loose).

If Treviso do that we should replace Nel with Magnus Bradbury!

I hope we don't get too obsessed by driving home a scrum advantage. I want to see Edinburgh give the ball some width tonight as well. We've got a really promising centre combination and in Hoyland a proper flyer out wide.

by TheMildlyFranticLlama Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 22:47

Hopefully if we do get a lead built up then Kinghorn can get some decent gametime at 10.

Fully agree on Du Preez, he's an animal! I hate to think how injured he'd have to be before he admits he can't play!

by **RDW** Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 22:48

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:
Fully agree on Du Preez, he's an animal! I hate to think how injured he'd have to be before he admits he can't play!

Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January - Page 2 3qafhk

by funnyExiledScot Fri 8 Jan 2016 - 22:52

RDW_Scotland wrote:
funnyExiledScot wrote:The only quibble with Du Preez for me is workrate. He can tend to come in and out of games. When he's on his game however he is a force of nature.

I've heard a few people say that but I can't agree - he is an absolutely workhorse IMO.

In the victorious 2nd leg of the 1872 cup he made 18 tackles - the most from any Edinburgh player. He was also joint with Jonny Gray for m made.

He's a beast!

That was one of his best performances IMHO. It's just an observation from a few games I've seen where he can be barnstorming for 40 minutes but then drop off for a while.

I feel odd typing criticism in relation to Du Preez. Make no mistake, I think he's a great player and a complete beast. Fantastic for Magnus Bradbury to be learning from a player like that.

by MacKnocked-on Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 2:50

Disappointed this game isn't on TV, I might be wrong but it seems that there are far fewer games being covered by BBC Alba this season than previously? In the past most Friday evenings had one of the pro sides' games on.

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 2:59

There's definintely less on Alba - they upped their game significantly last season and we had Edinburgh Glasgow (often both!) pretty much every weekend but it has been significantly cut this year.

Apparently Sky are looking to buy sole broadcasting rights to the Pro 12. Can't see that working out well for an un-glamorous team like Edinburgh.

by Welly Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:00

How's Watson getting on these days?

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:02

Welly wrote:How's Watson getting on these days?

He had a barnstorming start to the season and picked up a few MOTM awards. Since then he has had a few injuries and has lost his place to John Hardie, which is no real reflection on Watson's abilities!

He's still currently listed as injured so hopefully he can come back soon - he'll be a real asset during the 6N period.

by MacKnocked-on Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:15

RDW_Scotland wrote:There's definintely less on Alba - they upped their game significantly last season and we had Edinburgh Glasgow (often both!) pretty much every weekend but it has been significantly cut this year.

Apparently Sky are looking to buy sole broadcasting rights to the Pro 12. Can't see that working out well for an un-glamorous team like Edinburgh.

That would be a real shame, it was great to be able to follow both the pro teams last season, as you say neither Sky nor BT Sport would have much appetite for showing our games. The situation with the recent 1872 Cup was a bit farcical with both legs not covered by the same broadcaster.

by Welly Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:20

Whats Ross Fords contract situation like ATM.

Leicester will be needing another hooker, and i think we tried to sign him last time aswell.

by Nematode Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:24

Well Osborne has cut a £1m annual grant to BBC ALBA so I'm not sure if they'll be able to compete much with Sky.

The TV coverage of the Pro 12 has been disappointing recently though. I can't recall a Glasgow home game that has been broadcasted by ALBA, and I don't think any Italian games have been shown.

The Pro12 could do with having full match replays like the Premiership. Even though it's covered by BT, you can still watch the game even if it's the next day or two, in good quality.

by funnyExiledScot Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:28

Welly wrote: Whats Ross Fords contract situation like ATM.

Leicester will be needing another hooker, and i think we tried to sign him last time aswell.

Expires in the summer. He'd be a good signing for Leicester - hugely experienced, physical and strong in the loose. His weakness over the years has been his throwing, but he's been at lot better over the last 12 months in that regard.

Whilst I'd obviously want to keep him (the combination with Nel and Dickinson has been excellent), he could probably use a change of scene to drive him on for another couple of years (he's 32 in April this year). Edinburgh will be looking to Stuart McInally hopefully as the longer term fix at hooker. He's a converted number 8 and so far he's shown up pretty well with the hooking basics, and is obviously a real asset in the loose. He's 25 so has plenty yards ahead of him.

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:29

Welly wrote: Whats Ross Fords contract situation like ATM.

Leicester will be needing another hooker, and i think we tried to sign him last time aswell.

He's signed up to the end of this season.

I can see him staying given that he chose to stay in the past when he could easily have left for more money, and has a young family, but I'm sure he'll find himself in demand.

by Nematode Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:29

I'm not too sure re Ford. He's 31 so if he was wanting to play in the Premiership then now would be a good opportunity. We've got McInally and Cochrane as established players as well as George Turner who looks a decent prospect.

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:32

When he last signed a new contract I thought it would have been better for all parties if he had left, but now I don't mind either way and in fact would probably be pretty happy if he stayed.

Dickinson has signed a long term deal and hopefully Nel follows suit - it would be great to keep that front row together another couple of years while they are right in their primes.

Saying that, I think Ford is Edinburgh's top earner so it would free up a lot of cash.

by Nematode Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:37

I can't imagine he'll stay Edinburgh's top earner. Unlike Nel, he isn't essential with Mcinally, Cochrane and Turner all decent short/long-term options. I'd prefer to keep him although I'd rather lose him and keep Du Preez, Bresler, Burleigh and Scott.

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:38

Nematode wrote:Well Osborne has cut a £1m annual grant to BBC ALBA so I'm not sure if they'll be able to compete much with Sky.

The TV coverage of the Pro 12 has been disappointing recently though. I can't recall a Glasgow home game that has been broadcasted by ALBA, and I don't think any Italian games have been shown.

The Pro12 could do with having full match replays like the Premiership. Even though it's covered by BT, you can still watch the game even if it's the next day or two, in good quality.

Looking at the remaining fixtures only 3 Scottish games are on Alba and 1 is on BBC 2 - and all of those games are being broadcast by BBC Wales or BBC NI at the same time.

Edinburgh have 2 games on Alba and Glasgow have one on Alba and one on BBC 2.

Not great!

by MacKnocked-on Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:52

RDW_Scotland wrote:
Nematode wrote:Well Osborne has cut a £1m annual grant to BBC ALBA so I'm not sure if they'll be able to compete much with Sky.

The TV coverage of the Pro 12 has been disappointing recently though. I can't recall a Glasgow home game that has been broadcasted by ALBA, and I don't think any Italian games have been shown.

The Pro12 could do with having full match replays like the Premiership. Even though it's covered by BT, you can still watch the game even if it's the next day or two, in good quality.

Looking at the remaining fixtures only 3 Scottish games are on Alba and 1 is on BBC 2 - and all of those games are being broadcast by BBC Wales or BBC NI at the same time.

Edinburgh have 2 games on Alba and Glasgow have one on Alba and one on BBC 2.

Not great!

Very poor

by Nematode Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:56

Are they not still to decide what gets broadcasted? On ER's fixture list some games just have 'weekend of', so I imagine there might be a few more?

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 3:58

The Pro 12 website has a broadcast schedule until the end of the season.

The Edinburgh website hasn't been updated in a while - those fixtures have been decided already!

by CraigS1874 Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 4:14

Nematode wrote:I can't imagine he'll stay Edinburgh's top earner. Unlike Nel, he isn't essential with Mcinally, Cochrane and Turner all decent short/long-term options. I'd prefer to keep him although I'd rather lose him and keep Du Preez, Bresler, Burleigh and Scott.

Scott will chase the money early if it's offered as I am not sure he entirely trusts his fitness long term. I agree ford is not essential neither is cornel once sq in my opinion, he will be on a rather large wage and could easily be replaced with a youngster. Great player but players like Burleigh are more crucial to how we play.

by A Simply Mesmeric Try Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 6:41

Listening to Edinburgh v Treviso... or not. BBC Scot have some random wendyball game on instead. I'm sick of the sh!te rugby coverage we get! steam

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 6:42

It is on BBC radio Scotland - you must be on 810 medium wave?

by A Simply Mesmeric Try Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 6:48

RDW_Scotland wrote:It is on BBC radio Scotland - you must be on 810 medium wave?

BBC Scotland link on BBC Sport website...

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 6:49

The BBC sport website is playing the wrong commentary - you can get it on the BBC radio Scotland website

by A Simply Mesmeric Try Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 6:53

Thanks! Good lad!

This is what I had:

Edinburgh Rugby v Benetton Treviso, 8 January - Page 2 OIFBR4R

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 6:54

Yeah I went there first too but it is the feckin football!

10-3 Edinburgh btw and we're apparently physically dominating

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:00

Referee isn't endearing himself to the Edinburgh crowd by the sound of things

by A Simply Mesmeric Try Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:12

RDW_Scotland wrote:Referee isn't endearing himself to the Edinburgh crowd by the sound of things

Couldn't agree more.

Although, listening to that big-mouthed buffoon isn't endearing himself to me. He never does. The commentator has a nice lyrical tone so creates a pleasant balance.

***

Hoyland breaks... and the attack comes to nothing.

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:15

Sounds like a crap first half with Treviso getting a lot of penalties from the ref.

10-6

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:29

I find Wright quite entertaining - his rants don't bother me too much.

Adds some excitement to what sounds like dull game!

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:34

Tonks sounds like he's having a shocker

by VinceWLB Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:38

Doesn't look like it will be a BP win then..

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:40

16-6 - time to get some tries!

by **RDW** Sat 9 Jan 2016 - 7:50

Scrum penalty try Edinburgh - looks like my earlier prediction may prove accurate!

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