Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill: We have to win at Benetton Treviso

Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill admits his team simply must beat Benetton in Italy this weekend after their 19-17 home defeat by Cardiff Blues on Saturday.
Richard Cockerill was disappointed by the performance. Picture: SNSRichard Cockerill was disappointed by the performance. Picture: SNS
Richard Cockerill was disappointed by the performance. Picture: SNS

The loss at BT Murrayfield saw the hosts drop to fourth in Conference B of the PRO14 as they chase a play-off spot and a place in next season’s Champions Cup.

Cockerill said: “I’m disappointed. We put ourselves in a position to win, we had opportunities to score more points in that second half and we didn’t take them.

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“If you take your foot off the pedal – and Cardiff have got some real threat and they showed that – you lose concentration and you let in soft tries and you get punished, and that’s exactly what we got.

“We’ve now got to go to Treviso, and we’ve got to go and win, simple as that.

“We’re now four points behind them, but we’re right in the mix with the season still very much alive.”

Edinburgh had quickly taken control against Cardiff when hooker Dave Cherry threw into a lineout, appeared with the ball and burst into the 22 two to feed scrum-half Nathan Fowles for the score.

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Nine minutes later, Fowles suddenly produced a break with the scoring support coming from No.8 Bill Mata.

Blues, whose full-back Matthew Morgan was a late withdrawal, replaced by Dan Fish, dominated possession in the second quarter but only once tested the home defence.

Winger Aled Summerhill made a superb break and supporting scrum-half Lloyd Williams seemed sure to score, but a great tackle from behind from Mata pulled him down just short.

Edinburgh began the second half with Simon Hickey on for Dougie Fife and were the first to build pressure, allowing Jaco van der Walt to kick a penalty.

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Cardiff then got a foothold in the game with a try from Lloyd Williams, sent in by former Edinburgh man Jason Harries, and converted by Evans.

As the final quarter dawned the momentum was switching and Cardiff took the lead with two first-phase tries.

The first, in the 62nd minute, came from a lineout on the home 22, with centre Rey Lee-Lo supplying the pass to substitute Harries.

Ten minutes later, from a farther out scrum, the ball crossed the field for Summerhill to slip home.

This time Evans converted to give Cardiff the lead for the first time – and they held on to it until the end.