Edinburgh 22 - 27 Treviso: Stop-start Edinburgh undone by slick Treviso

Scorers: Edinburgh: Tries – Visser, Jones, Fife; Pens – Laidlaw; Con – Laidlaw. Treviso: Tries – Penalty, Barbieri 2; Pens – Di Bernardo 2; Con – Di Bernardo 3.

Early width and a Greig Laidlaw penalty were positive signs in the opening minutes, but for the next hour Edinburgh’s forwards struggled to secure decent possession and uncover any fluidity in their play. When ball did come the threequarters could hardly hang on to passes, too many players guilty of poor options or inaccurate passing. In short, it was a shambles and the final score flattered them.

Coach Michael Bradley admitted: “We are shattered and disappointed in relation to the result. They were difficult circumstances in terms of the officiating of the game. Having said that we were in charge of our own destiny. If we had approached our opportunities in the second half with more composure we could have won the game. We have a very big week next week and it has become even more important after that result.”

Treviso’s big ball-carriers, most notably international No 8 Robert Barbieri, flanker Simone Favaro, tighthead Lorenzo Cittadini and centre Alberto Sgarbi, set the tone in the first quarter with a blend of power and aggression that Edinburgh failed to deal with. For all their undoubted effort, the hosts lacked the skill and concentration to stem the green-and-white tide.

The referee proved as vulnerable. Matteo Liperini was in charge of his first RaboDirect PRO12 match and while many will question why an Italian referee was handling a game involving an Italian team it was a simple inability to identify where the strength lay in the scrum that clearly baffled players.

Treviso took on Edinburgh in a series of scrums, but often it was their front row that popped up first, and yet Edinburgh were penalised. The most obvious example of the Treviso loosehead, Michele Rizzo, being forced up by the pressure of the home scrum, bizarrely, resulted in Liperini showing the Edinburgh tighthead prop Willem Nel a yellow card. Nel, Ross Ford, Allan Jacobsen and home skipper Greig Laidlaw visibly angry.

It proved costly as from the next scrum, and resultant free-kick – hardly any scrums actually took place – and subsequent scrum, the referee awarded Treviso a penalty try. Lewis Niven was on as a front row replacement for Nel, with Dimitri Basilaia being sacrificed, and Niven was popped up by the Treviso scrum.

The decision brought the 4,000-strong crowd to their feet in condemnation before Tim Visser launched himself on the match in the only way he knows. Flanker David Denton showed superb skills in holding onto ball under pressure and timing his pass perfectly for the big winger, and his pace off the mark left a clutch of men in green and white stretching every sinew to get near him, only for a little goose-step to leave them all floundering on halfway.

Visser then drew Luke McLean with a step infield and then stepped out again to leave the full-back for dead, and even had the audacity to goose-step past a defender to get behind the posts and ensure Laidlaw’s conversion for a 10-7 lead with four minutes of the half remaining.

But more errors let Di Bernardo in to level with another penalty and it went from bad to worse when Jacobsen was first caught by Chris Leck’s boot as both went for a chip, and then Matt Scott delivered a poor pass that was scooped up by Barbieri, who showed fine pace to score by the posts. Di Bernardo converted to put the Italians 17-10 ahead at the interval.

Edinburgh replaced full-back Greig Tonks with Dougie Fife, and were lucky to still have Visser on the field when he flattened wing Iannone Tommaso with his shoulder during a stoppage in play. Fortunately for Edinburgh, the referee awarded only a penalty to the Italians.

Edinburgh’s woes continued as Richie Rees – a second-half substitute for Leck – had his clearance kick charged down behind a five-metre lineout and man-of-the-match Barbieri finished it off with his second try, converted by Di Bernardo.

However, within a minute of the restart Lee Jones showed that Edinburgh have more than one winger with pace, bursting through the Treviso defence 40 metres out and racing round the cover to score. However, Laidlaw’s conversion came back off a post, leaving the hosts still two scores behind, 27-15 down, with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Netani Talei and Ross Rennie were sent on to try and stem the influence of the Treviso forwards, the Edinburgh scrum drove the visitors off the ball and referee Liperini evened things up by penalising the Treviso scrum and yellow-carding prop Alberto De Marchi in a mirror image of the first half – but crucially he did not give Edinburgh the penalty try.

This messy game entered the final ten minutes with Treviso still 12 points to the good and Edinburgh’s frustration reaching biblical proportions.

Dougie Fife briefly energised the crowd when he raced in for a try with two minutes remaining, which Laidlaw converted, but the final whistle brought a chorus of boos. The Scots can have complaints about some of the refereeing, but Treviso fully deserved their first away win of the season.

Edinburgh: G Tonks; L Jones, M Scott, B Atiga, T Visser; G Laidlaw (capt), C Leck; A Jacobsen, R Ford, W Nel, G Gilchrist, S Cox, D Denton, R Grant, D Basilaia. Subs: L Niven for Basilaia 24-34 mins, D Fife for Tonks 40, J Yapp for Jacobsen, R Rees for Leck, both 49, N Talei for Denton, R Rennie for Grant, both 59, A Titterrell for Ford 72.

Treviso: L McLean; T Iannone, T Benvenuti, A Sgarbi, T Botes; A Di Bernardo, F Semenzato; M Rizzo, L Ghiraldini, L Cittadini, A Pavanello (capt), F Minto, S Favaro, A Zanni, R Barbieri. Subs: A De Marchi for Rizzo 47mins, M Filipucci for Favaro, P Di Santo for Cittadini, both 74.