IT was smiles all round as Gregor Townsend and his Scotland players escaped the heat of Singapore after recording a satisfactory five-try win. They know it was far from perfect but there was enough there to suggest the upward momentum that started under Vern Cotter should keep going with his successor in place.

This was almost a warm-up match before the serious stuff comes when they meet Australia in Sydney at the end of this week. Few of the players had played for a month and some – WP Nel, Josh Strauss and Matt Scott in particular – had not played for even longer.

Which is one reason it took them a long time to click. Just like in the RBS 6 Nations Championship, they came good in patches but also suffered long periods when they were doing all the hard work but failing to make it count.

Nor was there much sign of the frenzied fast pace we had been promised. "We knew it would be difficult to play at that tempo in these conditions," Townsend said later. "I felt we did really well at the beginning, we executed well and the shape in attack was just as they had trained.

"It didn’t always work but in the second half I felt we played with more ambition, especially in the first 10 to 15 minutes. We attacked more and looked for offloads. That was pleasing. The players didn’t just believe in what they were doing, but also looked to push things a bit further and take on Italy from a bit more depth.

"They got the rewards. The two tries before half time were timely, but also excellent decision making on when to keep going the same way and look for space."

The warning is that throughout the match, they struggled to break the Italy defence when they were at full strength. The Azzurri had to make 143 tackles compared to only 56 for Scotland but missed only eight, one fewer than the Scots.

Four of the five tries came when Italy were down a man. Scotland cannot expect that luxury against a better, more disciplined side, which is what you would expect Australia to be.

The one try that was scored against 15 was a thing of beauty, though – a rapid exchange of offloads between Duncan Taylor and Finn Russell carving out the opening and then a flip over his head from Russell finding Ross Ford behind him with space to make the line.

The big plus for Townsend, though, was the performance of the forwards. Even this young experimental Italy side are no mugs up front, but the Scots won the scrum battle, stole four line outs and for 70 minutes held every Italy maul while working Ross Ford over for the first of his two tries from one of their own.

It was a personal triumph for Ben Toolis, who was cast into the wilderness after his one previous cap ended with him in the sin bin and Italy winning at BT Murrayfield. This was his return to international action, more than two years after his first taste, and he was the outstanding forward on the pitch, ruling the line out, carrying ball and making his tackles.

It was also personal vindication for Damien Hoylan who played a crucial role in the try finished b fellow wing Tim Visser and then topped that with his first try in Test rugby on his third cap.

"I can’t describe it," he said. "I don’t think there is a better feeling to be honest. I was so chuffed and obvioiusly pleased that we finished with a really good win. It’s an unbelievable feeling and I’m just really glad to be here.

"I’m pretty happy with my performance. I maybe didn’t get the ball in as much space as I would have liked, but that will come."

It was personal vindication for him too. His first start had come in Japan last year, in a game where the team never pulled clear. He was taken off after 56 minutes and left in the cold for the rest of the international season.

"I think I’ve come on a lot in the last year," he obverved. "There were things I needed to work on and I worked really hard at them. I think it is starting to show and that my defence is a lot better now than it was last year.

"My general involvement in the game is a lot better than it has been, so I think now it is just about trying not to drop out of the picture and keep pushing. The competition is tough, it’s not easy to stay on the mix. I’ve got a lot of work to keep doing to stay involved."

Most of the first half was a stalemate, with Russell and Tomasso Allan exchanging penalties before Ali Price, the scrum half, found space for the opening try. From the kick off, two clever kicks from Russell ended with Visser grabbing the second try and all of a sudden he game had firmly turned Scotland's way.

The second half started in equally dominant style with Ford's two touchdowns – doubling his try tally as he claimed his 108th cap – but then it was back to stalemate as Italy again frustrated Scotland and even claimed a try for Michele Campagnaro after an interception. Hoyland was put clear by Duncan Taylor to finish the Scots scoring but Italy had the last word through Angelo Esposito.

Scorers: Italy: Tries: Campagnaro (65), Eposito (79). Pen: Allan (8)

Scotland: Try: Price (38), Visser (39), Ford (42, 48), Hoyland (72). Cons: Taylor, Russell, Horne. Pen: Russell (5)

Scoring sequence (Italy first): 0-3, 3-3, 3-8, 3-15 (half time), 3-22, 3-27, 8-27, 8-34, 13-34.

Italy: E Padovani (Zebre); A Esposito (Treviso), M Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs, T Benvenuti, Treviso, 69), T Boni (Zebre, T Allan, 77), L Sarto (Glasgow Warriors); T Allan (Treviso, C Canna, Zebre, 63), E Gori (Treviso, M Violi, Zebre, 56) (C); A Lovotti (Zebre, F Zani, Treviso, 51), L Bigi (Treviso, O Gega, Treviso, 51), S Ferrari (Treviso, P Ceccarelli, Zebre, 58), M Fuser (Treviso, A Van Schalkwyk, Zebre, 56), D Budd (Treviso, sin bin: 46-56), F Minto (Treviso), M Mata Mbanda’ (Zebre), R Julian Barbieri (Treviso, A Steyn, Treviso, 49, sin bin: 70-end).

Scotland: D Taylor (Saracens); D Hoyland (Edinburgh), M Scott (Gloucester), A Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), T Visser (Harlequins, R Hughes, Glasgow Warriors, 65); F Russell (Glasgow Warriors, P Horne, Glasgow Warriors, 39-41, 49), A Price (Glasgow Warriors, H Pyrgos, Glasgow Warriors, 49); A Dell (Edinburgh, G Reid, Glasgow Warriors, 18-27, ), R Ford (Edinburgh, F Brown, Glasgow Warriors, 54), WP Nel (Edinburgh, Z Fagerson, Glasgow Warriors, 54), T Swinson (Glasgow Warriors, M Bradbury, 58), B Toolis (Edinburgh), J Barclay (Scarlets), R Wilson (Glasgow Warriors), J Strauss (Glasgow Warriors, R Harley, Glasgow Warriors, 49).

Referee: P Williams (New Zealand)

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