Edinburgh moved into their target of the Guinness PRO12 top six for at least 24 hours as their rampant pack destroyed hapless Zebre at BT Murrayfield last night.
The capital side, looking to continue their momentum going into next week’s European Challenge Cup Final, duly got the necessary bonus point against the Italian club propping up the PRO12 and did it by way of three times from their well-drilled rolling maul.
Roddy Grant bagged two of them and while lock Anton Bresler picked up the man of the match award for his lineout and driving work, it was another impressive performance by the Edinburgh front row.
Alasdair Dickinson saw off two tight-heads, WP Nel forced another yellow card for his opposite number and Ross Ford scored a rare try as they led the way in tight and loose for the home eight.
Alan Solomons was able to take most of his main men off with fully a quarter to play as Edinburgh coasted to the bonus point before the hour and went on to score five tries for the second week in succession.
Bresler said that the forward effort was born of hard work on the practice pitch over the last two weeks.
“The driving maul is something we’ve worked on very hard, and that part of the game is always a real team effort,” he said. “We have next week of course but this was a vital game for our target this season because we want to play in the top European competition next season.”
Zebre initially thought they could get the same profit from the driving maul as the Italian national side had done in February at Murrayfield, and they did get an early penalty from it, but Gonzalo Garcia missed – and that was to be their only real scoring chance.
When Edinburgh tried their hand at the driving maul from solid lineout ball just a couple of minutes later, the result was much more conclusive as the black juggernaut devoured 20 metres before Grant claimed the try, Hidalgo-Clyne converting.
Zebre barely stopped the next Edinburgh maul and were also struggling at the scrum, where a collapse under pressure brought an easy Hidalgo-Clyne penalty on the 20 minute mark.
The scrum-half then made a pinpoint touch kick to pin Zebre back, Edinburgh stole the lineout through Toolis and when Cornell Du Preez, on as a brief blood sub for Mike Coman lopped a miss pass for Sam Beard to put Dougie Fife in for an easy try.
Hidalgo-Clyne converted and then Dario Chistolini was yellow-carded for taking down another scrum, the Edinburgh scrum-half adding another three points to his haul.
Further Woe was heaped on Zebre as wing Giulio Toniolatti was yellowed for taking out Visser in the air but the 13 Italians got through both sin-binnings without further damage on the scoreboard.
However no sooner where they back to a full 15 when loose head prop Matias Aguero saw another card as the Zebre scrum splintered, and Edinburgh capitalised immediately with a third try, Ford working with his Scotland mate Dickinson in a neat lineout trick move to score from close range.
And the bonus point try came quickly and through the maul again, this time a 35-metre shove that ended with Grant twisting over for his second score of the night, Hidalgo-Clyne converting.
The game began to break up a bit with Edinburgh naturally resting players for next week, but at the death another well-drilled rolling maul saw Stuart McInally go over for the fifth try.
Att: 3490
Edinburgh: T Brown; D Fife, S Beard (C Bezuidenhout 71), A Strauss (T Heathcote 47), T Visser; P Burleigh, S Hidalgo-Clyne (N Fowles 66) ; A Dickinson (R Sutherland 64), R Ford (N Cochrane 64), WP Nel (J Andress 61); A Bresler (F McKenzie 58), B Toolis; S McInally, R Grant, M Coman (C Du Preez 56)
Zebre: H Daniller; G Toniolatti, M Bergmasco (M Pratichetti 53), G Garcia, D Odiete (B Leonard 57); L Orquera, G Palazzani; M Aguero (A Lovotti 65), A Manici (O Fabiani 50), D Chistolini (L Redolfini 56); V Bernabo, M Bortolami (A Mahu 50); F Cristiano, D van Schalkwyk, S Vunisa (F Ferrarini 68).