ITALY 20

SCOTLAND 36

IN ANY competition that consists of just five matches, players and observers alike can be tempted to overstate the importance of each game. A narrow defeat is viewed as a catastrophe. A fortunate win is hailed as an epic triumph.

It’s the feast-and-famine syndrome, and it is something that Scotland will resist in the wake of victory against Italy just as they did after the defeats by England and Wales. Even though those two latter matches followed seven other losses in the Six Nations Championship, both Vern Cotter, the head coach, and his players, insisted they were not far away from getting things right.

The key was to look at each game in isolation, not as part of a long string of reverses. To understand that, for all the obvious failings against England, that match was lost by only six points. And that, while lapses were again glaringly obvious against the Welsh, the margin of defeat there was just four.

So they told themselves they were on the right track, and, crucially, they stuck to the adventurous style of play that had served them well at last year’s Rugby World Cup. Desperation for a win can often cramp a team’s style, but Scotland stuck to their guns and were rewarded on Saturday with their first victory in the tournament for two years.

The enterprise they showed in the opening stages of the game was vital, as it yielded two tries and had the Italians chasing the game - a position from which they were almost inevitably going to commit errors. Just as vital, however, was the resolution shown late on in defence, above all when first Finn Russell and then WP Nel were yellow-carded.

Scotland weathered that late storm in Rome's Olympic Stadium, then broke upfield to claim victory a couple of minutes from time when Tommy Seymour scored their third try. That distribution of the three tries over the course of the game might suggest that this was a rollercoaster of a match, but, while there are ebbs and flows in almost every contest at this level, there were aspects of play in which Scotland were ahead virtually throughout.

The scrum, above all, gave the visitors an edge. Italy have long been regarded as experts in that department, but even a decade ago that was perhaps a generous assessment, one which only made sense in comparison to their backs’ lack of a cutting edge. And certainly now, with their cult idol Martin Castrogiovanni reduced to a trundle-on role off the bench, they simply do not have mastery in the set piece.

Scotland showed as much by achieving parity in the first scrum, putting on an almighty push at the second, and then winning a penalty at the third. Other penalties followed, too, relieving the pressure at crucial moments.

Kelly Haimona opened the scoring for the Italians against the run of play, but Scotland soon hit back. Half the team was involved in the build-up to their first try, but credit for creating the score has to go to Stuart Hogg, who popped the ball out of the tackle for John Barclay to go over and touch down.

Not long after captain Greig Laidlaw had converted the try to begin his personal points tally of 21, Scotland scored their second. Ryan Wilson did much of the damage this time, stretching the Italian defence down the line before passing to John Hardie, who was all but unmarked.

Wilson was only in the starting line-up because David Denton had injured himself in training on Friday, and it was credit to the side as a whole that they were not thrown by the late change. Josh Strauss, who had played almost a full game for Glasgow on Thursday night, was drafted on to the bench, and fortunately did not have to come on until late into the game.

Laidlaw added a penalty to those two converted scores to take the score to 17-3 after 25 minutes, but Italy fought back to claim their own first try and reduce the half-time deficit to seven. There was an ominous ease with which several would-be tackles were shrugged off in the phases before Leonardo Ghiraldini’s score, but the defence, although it would be breached again, proved not to be so porous thereafter.

In the second half, three more penalties from Laidlaw and one by Haimona took the score to 26-13 - but then the Italian fight back really began. Russell was yellow-carded for handling in a ruck, and within minutes the home team took advantage, running a penalty which ended with Marco Fuser touching down.

Haimona’s conversion reduced the gap between the teams to a full score, and although Laidlaw soon restored his team’s lead to ten, Italy were not finished. Crucially, though, the defensive line held, and at last a scrum penalty relieved the pressure.

There was relief as much as sheer joy, too, when Seymour made sure of the win with a try again created by Hogg, because this was a closer game than the scoreline would indicate. For that reason, and because, after all, this is only one win after so many losses, Scotland will not get carried away.

Even so, they can go into their match against France in a confident frame of mind. For one thing, they came out of this game with no significant injury concerns - a rarity at Test level. Of more lasting significance, however, is the fact that they believe in the way in which they are playing the game, and at last they have proof that it can produce results.

ITALY: Tries: Ghiraldini, Fuser. Cons: Haimona 2. Pens: Haimona 2.

SCOTLAND: Tries: Barclay, Hardie, Seymour. Cons: Laidlaw 3. Pens: Laidlaw 5.

Referee: J Peyper (South Africa). Attendance: 67,721.