A HUGELY controversial finish to Edinburgh's make-or-break clash in Treviso has left them in real danger of not making the Guinness PRO14 play-offs and possibly even losing the chance of a place in the Heineken Champions Cup next season.

Defeat at the hands of their conference rivals left the Italians in second spot with a five-point cushion over the Scarlets, the side just behind them, and six over Ulster, who play later today. Edinburgh, meanwhile, are now languishing in fifth place and eight points back.

The only good news from a Scottish point of view was that Hamish Watson, the flanker, and WP Nel, the prop, both seemed to come through their return to action from injury lay-offs without any alarms and look ready to return to the national squad when it assembles in Edinburgh tomorrow.

There was also another sparkling solo try from centre James Johnstone that might give Gregor Townsend pause for thought.

What must have been particularly galling for Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill, however, was that it could all have been so different had match referee George Clancy and television match official Alan Falzone taken a longer look at the moment that turned the game.

At that stage, Edinburgh were grimly holding on to a two-point lead in an error-strewn match. They were relying on their defence to hold firm against the Italian onslaught and, for a long period, it looked as though they would – until Antonio Rizzi, newly on at fly-half, threaded a grubber kick through the line of Edinburgh tacklers

It set up a three-way chase as Rizzi, wing Monty Ioane and Edinburgh full-back Tom Brown raced back to ground the ball before it reached the dead-ball line.

All three reached it at about the same time but, after the quickest of quick looks on the replays, the officials ruled Rizzi had touched the ball down first and gave him the score.

The problem was that Brown was adamant he had got his hand to the ball first and, when the video was replayed again in slow motion, it looked as though he was right. Certainly he touched the ball before the others, though it was hard to see from the high camera angle, the only view shown, if he got there a fraction too early and the ball touched the ground only after Rizzi got to it.

Typically, Cockerill refused to complain about the decision. “I haven’t seen it close enough, to be honest. It’s pretty manic here. I need to see it close up," was his only comment.

He could take some solace from aspects of the performance as Benetton completed the home double over Scottish opponents, having already beaten Glasgow Warriors.

"I thought from a performance point of view we played pretty well. We played to our potential with what we’ve got.

"We had chances to exit our half of the field when we were 10-8 up but we didn’t. We turned ball over, we invited them into our 22 and they punished us," Cockerill added.

"We are bitterly disappointed but had a lot of guys missing. We are working hard but didn’t get the result and we need to learn from that."

His side had taken an early lead through Jaco van der Walt's penalty but then seen the home side level through fly-half Ian McKinley before lock Niccolo Cannone powered over from short range to edge the home side in front.

Cockerill's men did get their noses back ahead when Johnstone jinked his way through the defence from 20 metres out, three sidesteps in tight spaces getting him past a line of floundering tacklers before he crossed.

In the end, however, Edinburgh failed to hold on to that lead and there was even more disappointment when they surrender a penalty in the final minute of the game and Rizzi kicked it to prevent the Scots getting even the consolation of a losing bonus point.

It leaves Edinburgh's drive for a PRO14 play-off place in trouble. They have to play in-conference games against the Scarlets and Ulster, their closest rivals, plus a meeting with Leinster, who have already assured themselves of top spot, and the derby with Glasgow Warriors.

However, Cockerill was refusing to give up.

"In isolation, it’s disappointing but I just said to the boys we’ve got four games to go," he said. "There is every chance we can qualify in that top three and we will fight every inch to make sure that we do that.

"Our season is very much alive but when you get an opportunity you have to take it and it’s hard work during the Six Nations period. We have to deal with that.

"Notwithstanding that, we have to learn when we are two points up not to overplay in our own half.

"We don’t have to force the game but we do have to control the game and, at times, we didn’t. The only way is to do it (make mistakes) and learn from those examples.”

Scorers: Benetton Treviso – Tries: Cannone, Rizzi. Con: Rizzi. Pens: McKinley, Rizzi.

Edinburgh – Try: Johnstone. Con: Van der Walt. Pen: Van der Walt

Edinburgh: Brown; Hoyland, Johnstone, Dean (Bennett, 73), Blain, Van der Walt, Pyrgos (C) (Fowles, 75); Schoeman, Cherry (Ford, 24), Nel (Ceccarelli, 41), McKenzie, Hunter-Hill (Toolis, 41), Crosbie, Watson (Nayalo, 50), Miller.

Benetton Treviso: Sperandio, Tavuyara, Zanon, Sgarbi (C), Ioane; McKinley (Rizzi, 67), Duvenage; Quaglio (Appiah, 41), Baravalle (Faiva, 50), Riccioni (Faiva, 62), Herbst, Cannone (Barbini, 54), Lazzaroni, Pettinelli, Halafihi (Barbieri, 67).