Edinburgh on a roll

Edinburgh secured a third straight Magners League home victory without sparkling against Benetton Treviso on a damp night at Murrayfield.

Netani Talei scored a first-half try and Kyle Traynor touched down in the second period for Edinburgh, while David Blair added three penalties and one conversion.

Tobias Botes kicked three penalties in reply for Treviso as Edinburgh's first Italian Magners League opposition were vanquished in the capital.

Edinburgh - boosted by the presence of six members of Scotland's Test squad - were forced into two late changes to their line-up with Scott Newlands replacing the ill Alan MacDonald at flanker and Lee Jones coming in for wing Tim Visser, who was injured in the warm-up.

Treviso had already beaten Scarlets, Leinster, Newport Gwent Dragons and Connacht in their opening seven fixtures in the league and were intent on claiming another scalp.

After Botes cancelled out Blair's early penalty, the visitors camped in the hosts' half, spreading the ball wide only for the wet conditions to contribute to numerous mistakes in contact and with the ball in hand.

Edinburgh number eight Talei charged ahead as Edinburgh made their first meaningful intrusion on Treviso territory before being penalised for holding on.

Botes added another penalty after 28 minutes, but Edinburgh responded and John Houston sliced through the visitors' defence with a 40-metre run before the ball was recycled and Talei shrugged off the challenge of two would-be tacklers to score.

Blair converted to hand the hosts a four-point interval lead.

Botes kicked his third successful penalty but, after Blair missed the chance to respond when his kick drifted wide, Edinburgh crossed for a second try after 49 minutes.

Jones got behind the visitors with a kick and chase before a half-break from Mark Robertson sucked in the defence and allowed Traynor to sneak around the resulting ruck to touch down.

Blair missed the conversion but added a penalty from in front of the posts after Botes' knock-on had allowed Edinburgh to apply pressure on the visitors' line.

The hosts' lead became 12 points when Blair kicked his third penalty of the evening from the visitors' 10-metre line with 10 minutes remaining, and the Edinburgh defence stood firm to secure a fourth win of the season.

The scorers:

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Talei, Traynor
Cons: Blair
Pens: Blair 3

For Treviso:
Pens: Botes 3

Edinburgh: 15 Jim Thompson, 14 Mark Robertson, 13 Ben Cairns, 12 John Houston, 11 Tim Visser, 10 David Blair, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Netani Talei, 7 Roddy Grant (c), 6 Alan MacDonald, 5 Fraser McKenzie, 4 Scott MacLeod3 David Young, 2 Andrew Kelly, 1 Kyle Traynor.
Replacements: 16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Lewis Niven, 19 Craig Hamilton, 20 Scott Newlands, 21 Ross Samson, 22 Alex Grove, 23 Lee Jones.

Treviso: 15 Brendan Williams, 14 Ludovico Nitoglia, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Benjamin De Jager, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Benjamin Vermaak, 6 Enrico Pavanello, 5 Corniel Van Zyl, 4 Gonzalo Padṛ, 3 Pedro Di Santo, 2 Franco Sbaraglini (c), 1 Augusto Allori.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet, 19 Valerio Bernaḅ, 20 Robert Barbieri, 21 Francesco Minto, 22 Fabio Semenzato, 23 Andrea Pratichetti.

Referee: Leighton Hodges (Wales)