Edinburgh's URC bubble burst in Italy, Bulls gore Scarlets

Edinburgh’s perfect start in the URC came crashing to a halt as Benetton turned the form book on its head with a 31-12 win.

The Scots had won four from four, while their opponents began the afternoon assignment winless in 15th place.

But the tone was set in the second minute when Piero Gritti touched down to put the Italians in front, but their momentum was halted by Matias Medrano’s hit on Grant Gilchrist earned him a 20-minute red card.

Ignacio Mendy went over for a second despite the numerical disadvantage and Edinburgh went down to 14 men themselves when Callum Hunter-Hill earned a yellow. Bautista Bernasconi soon made it three tries, all unconverted, before Jacob Umaga’s penalty made it 18-0 at the break.

A penalty from the fly-half stretched the lead by another three points and by the time Onisi Ratave broke through the gap was too big for Edinburgh to overcome.

Second-half scores from Harri Morris and Harry Paterson leant an air of respectability to the scoreline but a late penalty ensured the hosts had the final word.

Meanwhile, the Bulls ran in eight tries to secure a comfortable 54-26 victory over Scarlets at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Stadium.

Dylan Maart and Marcell Coetzee scored braces for the hosts and Curwin Bosch contributed all seven conversions.

Jeandre Rudolph got the scoring started for the hosts in the 11th minute before Willie le Roux crossed the whitewash seven minutes later and Maart added his first after 27 minutes.

Scarlets fought back and got their first points on the board with a 30th-minute John McKee try and another from Sam Lousi closed the gap at the halfway point.

Coetzee extended the lead after the break, but tries from Archie Hughes and Joe Roberts gave the visitors a fighting chance and Carwyn Leggatt-Jones added two more conversions.

Bulls then ran away with the contest after Coetzee’s second with tries from Sebastian de Klerk and Johan Grobbelaar before Maart wrapped up the win.