Scotland 48 Italy 7

ITALY 7

Try: Campagnaro. Con: Allan.

SCOTLAND made it back-to-back wins against Italy in some style, running in three tries against opponents who looked more sluggish than they had done last week. The Scots had been lucky to leave Turin with a 16-12 victory after being dominated up front for much of the game, but there was nothing fortuitous about this win.

Scotland got off to an excellent start, and were 10-0 up within ten minutes. First Greig Laidlaw knocked over a penalty after the Italians had offended in the scrum, and then Sean Lamont grabbed his 13th try for Scotland after collecting a perfectly weighted chip from Finn Russell. Italy scrum-half Guglielmo Palazzani came across to tackle Lamont close to the left touchline, but the winger easily fended him off. Laidlaw converted.

The Italian defence tightened up after that, but the next scores also went to the home side, as Laidlaw was on the mark with two more penalties to make it 16-0. Then, approaching the half-hour, Italy got off the mark. For the second time after being awarded a penalty they opted to kick for touch instead of going for goal, and this time the resultant lineout paid dividends.

An initial drive was held up close to the Scots goal-line, but when the ball came back Tommy Allan chipped into the in-goal area. Laidlaw and Tim Visser were first to the ball, but the latter fumbled it off the scrum-half’s head, allowing Michele Campagnaro to gather and touch down. Allan converted, and Italy were back in the match.

With two minutes to go in the first half, Italy were reduced to 14 men when Francesco Minto was yellow-carded for a blatant offside. Scotland made immediate use of the advantage, tapping the penalty and driving on for John Barclay to force his way over. Laidlaw’s conversion made it 23-7.

There was still time before the break for another attack from deep by Stuart Hogg after Italy had been dispossessed, but poor positioning by referee Romain Poite saw him get in the way. The move petered out and the half ended as the crowd booed the official.   

Italy did not concede again while a man down - but they did minutes after Minto came back on. Several attempts by Scotland forwards to cross the line were held up close to the posts, then swift recycling by Laidlaw to Russell allowed the stand-off to float a long pass out to Visser. The winger ran in from around ten metres out, and although Laidlaw was off target with the conversion attempt, the score of 28-7 put the home team firmly in control.

Matt Scott replaced Peter Horne, who had taken a knock to a knee, then Laidlaw sent over another penalty to take his team’s tally past the 30-point mark. Lamont intercepted a Quintin Geldenhuys pass from midway inside the Italian half to score his team’s fourth try of the day.

A disappointing afternoon for the visitors was made worse when Michele Rizzo was sinbinned for stamping on Gordon Reid as the prop lay at the bottom of a ruck. Visser ran almost the length of the field after intercepting a Luke McLean pass to make it five tries, and with Laidlaw off the field Russell added the extra points.

Mark Bennett completed the rout with his team’s sixth right on full-time, claiming a loose ball in his own 22 and storming clear up the left wing. Russell was wide with the conversion attempt.

Scotland: S Hogg (R Jackson 67); S Lamont, M Bennett, P Horne (M Scott 52), T Visser; F Russell, G Laidlaw (H Pyrgos 66); A Dickinson ( G Reid 64), R Ford (S McInally 58), W Nel (J Welsh 64), J Gray, G Gilchrist (R Harley 61), R Wilson, J Barclay (B Cowan 61), D Denton.

Italy: L McLean; A Esposito (A Masi 52), M Campagnaro, L Morisi (M Violi 75), L Sarto; T Allan (C Canna 75), G Palazzani; M Aguero (M Rizzo 34), L Ghiraldini (A Manici 65), M Castrogiovanni (D Chistolini 57), M Fuser (Q Geldenhuys 57), J Furno, A Zanni, F Minto (Mauro Bergamasco 65), S Vunisa.

Referee: R Poite (France). Attendance: 43,831.