Zebre 34-16 Edinburgh: Richard Cockerill deplores his mistakes in the second half

Head coach Richard Cockerill described Edinburgh's 34-16 loss to Zebre as "a half-step back" after Toulon's catchy win last weekend.

Edinburgh missed several key stars of Scotland but led by 10 points in the interval of Parma.

However, Zebre ran four tries and the visitors collapsed in the second half.

"From where we were at half-time until the end of the match, for me it's just not an acceptable performance on the part of this team," Cockerill told BBC Scotland .

With the fall tests starting next week, there were only five players remaining on the team that had won Toulon in the 40-14 Champions Cup, but Edinburgh was hoping for a success for Pro14 as a test from Darcy Graham put them in mind.

"It was a very good first half, we played really well," said Cockerill.

"At half-time, we talked about controlling the ball and the game, as well as controlling the opponents because they are very dangerous when they have the ball, but we did not do it. "

"We have exactly what we deserve"

David Sisi, Gabriele Di Giulio, Carlo Canna and Tommaso Castello all enjoyed moments of relaxation to complete a return of bonus points for the Italians.

"We missed a tackle and they scored first," said Cockerill. "You would expect that an international like Dougie Fife catches a high ball and does not let him bounce in. He bounces in a fun way and suddenly they are under the stick.

"We fill them with energy and the game escapes us, and then you give them 14 points for nothing.

"You are going to make mistakes in the game. It has happened, but you must then regain control of the game.

"We throw an interception and the game is far from us, then they score at the end and we beat, we get exactly what we deserve and it's not enough."

Jamie Hodgson, Callum Atkinson, Pietro Ceccarelli and Mungo Mason all made their debut in Edinburgh.

"We're missing some guys but that's not an excuse," added Cockerill. "We played pretty well in the first half and we knew what we were trying to do.

"Some of our seniors need to intensify. There was a bit of inexperience in the group and they learned, but I was expecting more.

"When it started to go against us, we did not have the means to rectify it, which is very disappointing, this group of players is better than that."