Star man: Stuart Hogg
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An exceptional effort at the breakdown helped Scotland to a confident 34-10 victory over Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Four tries, including a brilliant length of the field interception try from Stuart Hogg, led to a memorable victory for Scotland in front of a vocal home crowd at Murrayfield, compensating for the performance against England at Twickenham last weekend.
Interim head coach Scott Johnson had bemoaned his side's lack of intensity in the tackle area against England in Round One, but there was to be no let-up from the Scots at Murrayfield - throwing their bodies into the breakdown and forcing the Italian platform that stood solid against France to collapse.
That pressure on the half-backs was illustrated by the performance of Luciano Orquera. Sensational against Les Bleus, Orquera fumbled, shanked and laboured against Scotland - a shadow of the player who was so impressive six days before in Rome.
Both sides played with a level of ambition that this fixture has witnessed too little of in previous years, with Italy still riding high after last weekend's victory over France.
Handling errors were a plenty though and it took a penalty from Greig Laidlaw after 15 minutes to open the scoring, handing Scotland the lead.
Little errors continued to compound long periods of Italian possession throughout the opening quarter, with Scotland frustrating the Azzurri at the tackle area, Laidlaw adding another further three points to hand Scotland a 6-0 lead after 25 minutes.
A howling missed kick from Tommaso Benvenuti handed Scotland centre Matt Scott the opportunity to score in the left corner, only to be denied by a brilliant try-saving tackle from Tobias Botes.
The missed chance though was a warning shot - Ruaridh Jackson creating the space for Tim Visser minutes later down the left-hand side and the Edinburgh flyer jinked his way through for the opening try.
Italy looked to have the final say in the first half and Orquera's made no mistake with his second penalty attempt to leave the score at 13-3 going into the break.
Scotland's dominance continued after the interval - an attacking lineout producing a second try as Matt Scott dived over following a great offload from Sean Maitland in midfield.
Stuart Hogg then hammered the nail into the Italians coffin, intercepting a two-on-one that would have certainly led to a try for Italy to scamper down the length of the pitch himself, his second exceptional try of the Six Nations stretching the lead to 27-3. Orquera, his final act of the afternoon being the pass that set Hogg free, swiftly left the field.
Fortune continued to work against Italy as the half wore on, a strong attacking position in front of the Scottish posts snuffed out by a powerful drive in the scrum from the home pack.
Maitland looked to have made another fine assist for Scott in the right-hand corner later on, but his pass was marginally forward as Scotland sought to pile on the humiliation with a fourth try.
They did not have to wait long. Sean Lamont pouncing for his ninth international try, a loose ball at the back of the Italian ruck snatched up by the centre who raced away to score under the posts on a dream afternoon for the home side.
Italy did work a consolation score, a well-worked scrum resulting in an inside flick from Parisse into the grateful path of Alessandro Zanni who powered over for the try.
But this was Scotland's day - a great response to the criticism thrown their way after their defeat at Twickenham and a feast of tries for Murrayfield to savour.
Man of the Match: Scotland's pack were so strong that this honour is split between Euan Murray and Kelly Brown - each player making 15 tackles in an excellent defensive performance.
Moment of the Match: Undoubtedly Stuart Hogg's breakaway score that put Scotland out of sight. A potential Lion in waiting.
Villain of the Match: The wild missed hack from Giovambattista Venditti was both hilarious and tragic, but more importantly nearly cost his side a try.
The scorers:
For Scotland:
Tries: Visser, Scott, Hogg, Lamont
Con: Laidlaw 4
Pens: Laidlaw 2
Yellow Card: Cross
For Italy:
Try: Zanni
Con: Burton
Pen: Orquera
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown (capt), 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Moray Low, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Alastair Kellock, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Max Evans.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Francesco Minto, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Davide Giazzon, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Antonio Pavanello, 20 Paul Derbyshire, 21 Edoardo Gori, 22 Kristopher Burton, 23 Gonzalo Garcia.
Comments
porridge_time says...
This was a result that not did Scotland need, but they deserved. The forward actually did what they did not do against England... having said Murray and Hamilton although greatly improved are not the future for Scotland and still need to be replaced.
It was good see another good performance from Laidlaw at nine and was actually please with the performance of Jackson who looked a far better player than he did the week before. Matt Scott also played well and the back three for Scotland look potent and capable of scoring from deep.
Some of the posters on here smack of sour grapes in my opinion, so many times we Scots fans have watch our team crumple or end on the wrong end of dodgy officiating, one win certainly does not make a summer, but I do think Scotland can kick on from here and will be very difficult to knock over at home.
Posted 01:35 10th February 2013
atg77 says...
How lethal are Scotland's back three? Will tear the Irish to shreds in two weeks...
Posted 23:00 09th February 2013
Michtymauler says...
@Thegreatone
Tellitlikeitis
Papachinzu
Lyhel
Jeez you four guys/girls have some real issues! Maybe you can get a group therapy thing going and try and work out which part of your collective childhood broke the chromosome! Maybe stop your constant bed wetting too!!!
Scotland weren't sensational. They were ten times better than last week. They were psyched up, quicker, faster and organised in defence and most of all appeared to be determined and committed. Very refreshing after all the games they've let themselves down. Maybe Dean McRyan did have an impact on the pack after all! Euan Murray tackling!!
I for one expected the Italian pack of last week to steamroller through the Scots but they managed to stifle them out thanks to their quick defence and committed tackling. True a couple of the tries came from Italian errors and Scotland had hardly any possession in the second half, however, a huge improvement and at least now you can see potential there.
Great Scotland back three are exciting and a shame they don't get more ball. Quite a good back line actually. Ruraidh Jackson is the weak link and maybe a faster outside centre.. Shame Steven Shingler wasn't playing 10.. ;-) Well done Scotland..
Posted 21:06 09th February 2013
new_j4a says...
I thought that Scotland played some very attractive rugby. I watched the whole game enthralled, unlike the next game....I literally punted at half time and went and cleaned the attic. (Ref complainers are dead wrong about this game, but I am tired of throwing artificial pearls before real swine)
Posted 20:51 09th February 2013
Lucasrg says...
Cynical is the only word that sovereign this match. Well done Scotland...deserved. but I wouldn't be so joyful. Basically they turned all Italy's mistake into something. I was surprised only at scrum time where Italy supposed to be dominant. AT break downs Scotland look pretty ordinary, as well as in open play. Plus there were couple of penalties for Italy, in the first few scrums, that the ref completely overlook...still well done Scotland.
But if you come to me and say that Scotland trashes Italy then probably you never played rugby. 2 mistakes two tries donated to the Scots, relying only on few singular talents. Their game plan was just so unproductive and need to improve big time. Surprisingly the Scottish scrum turned up pretty well against all the odds.
Overall a mediocre...if not unlucky, test for the Azzurri that didn't pass the Psychology exam. It is good now that we have a break and analyze everything better. Too much enthusiasm ball in hand when probably playing a lil more conservative would have made this game much easier. Botes and Orquera didn't deliver it this time...maybe is good to bring back Gori and Burton back in.
We all got a nice relaxant week ahead so ...enjoy it.
Posted 20:22 09th February 2013
astrospange says...
It was a match that hung in the balance until the ref decided not to enforce the tackle area laws. The Scots were persistently lying on the wrong side, not rolling away, coming in from the sides, etc. All the tactics of a side trying to cheat a win. Poor reffing and a gifted intercept...no skill there.
Posted 20:18 09th February 2013
ArmchairGeneral says...
An almost great game ruined by substitutions.
Posted 20:07 09th February 2013
atg77 says...
Great win for Scotland, the young guys really starting to step up. Its even better considering the fact we(Scotland) were quite poor ourselves. Scotland took their chances well, but still kicked the ball away far too often and failed to move the ball into space and involve Visser and Maitland more. Scotland need to keep the ball and hand and keep shifting it wide; if we can do that we'll take care of the Irish and Welsh at home. On another note, its sad to see the anti-Scotland brigage out in force here, despite a 24 point margin... no matter what we do we'll be rubbish to some people. Oh, and who was the clown here who predicted a 16 point winning margin for Italy?
Posted 19:27 09th February 2013
makemehappy says...
Certainly a few very questionable refereeing decisions produced a very flattering score. Two poor teams at the end of the day, with Italy playing more like Italy, than they did last week!
Posted 19:24 09th February 2013
Maubec says...
If you think it was a poor standard, what do you think of the France-Wales game played just after ?...
A last, Ireland and perhaps England will give us a real good game of rugby tomorrow...
Posted 19:19 09th February 2013
1st58 says...
Sensational??? Hardly - the Scots deservedly beat a very poor Italian side on the day - the f half went from hero to absolute zero - he was horrible.
Personally I thought the game was of a very poor standard, although Scotland were far the better side.
Posted 19:04 09th February 2013
Ruggernaut says...
Wow! Scotland really brought their A-game today and showed that they can put their opponents to the sword. Italy simply had no chance right from the start. Scotland was too physical, to clinical and the backs really showed what they can do with quality ball from the pack. Well done lads.
Posted 19:00 09th February 2013
BiggyFint says...
SENSATIONAL?
Posted 18:25 09th February 2013
Iyhel says...
Sensationnal? I think the scoreline flatters the Scots. They were dominant but only slightly. And they were helped by poor decisions by Parisse - maybe a bit over ambitious after last week's victory?
It had no bearing on the match outcome but what was that horror of a refeering? So many forward passes missed for one thing... After last weekend's great perf by all three refs this is really disappointing.
And the first half at the Stade de France ain't better...
Posted 17:57 09th February 2013
TVaddict says...
Well, Italy once again showed their inability to replicate a good performance away from home. To be honest I found this a very boring game. The referee was awful at the breakdown, almost every ruck there was either an Italian coming in at the side, or a Scottish playing not rolling away, or playing the ball off his feet, or being offside. Made it a messy and unenjoyable game to watch. I'd say Hogg is the only player really putting his hands up for lions selection.
Positives for Scotland: Brown played well, defence line was faster, Hogg seems to be the real deal, improved performances from Gray and Beattie.
Posted 17:49 09th February 2013
scot_rsa says...
Dear me a bit of moaning about the ref. Maybe time to reflect on your team before doing that. Peyper was very vocal and clear at every tackle point, release the player. We could have moaned after Twickenham but the fact was we were slower and not aggressive enough. Fixed this week though. Delighted to see Matt Scott do something other than tackle. Jackson stepped up too. If we show that aggression and speed then our support for the team will grow again.
Posted 17:46 09th February 2013
TheGreatOne says...
34-10 Sensational? If SA had beaten Scotland 34-10 the headline would have been: Bumbling Boks Struggle Past Brave Scotland
Posted 17:27 09th February 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
hmmmm, really??? - watched the game and you have to applaud the Scottish defensive effort but listening to the pundits lauding the Scottish back play and I was wondering if I had perhaps watched a different game.
Pretty sure that the only thing anyone can say about the Scottish backs at the moment is that they can run faster than the Italian forwards no tries really from phase play.
I'm probably being a bit churlish but listening to the bemusement in the BBC studio at the match stats which favoured Italy hugely I wouldn't be getting too carried away if i was a Scot - that said, Wasps won HC and Premiership titles off a similar tactic.
On the topic of interceptions, one ludicrous moment where an Italian player passed the ball directly to a static Scotsman stood in directly in front of him,you have to ask what self-respecting referee would allow 2 opposing teams to take to the field in the same colours?
Not suggesting that it had an impact on the result but still a crazy state of affairs.
Posted 16:52 09th February 2013
giomamo says...
Well deserved win by a very solid Scotland, horrible display by Italy: one of the worst performance ever! Weakness, no pride, confusional. Shaming refereeing but not influential.
Posted 16:48 09th February 2013
melkdave says...
Well 1st off well done Scotland,so what was different this week from last.Scotlands line speed was good,and stoped Italy doing those little offloads ,that where so effective against France.Stoped Italy going forwand getting behind the gain line.Eventually forcing taly to try forcing the pass,and Scotland managed to get a few intercepts.Turning point was Hoggs intercept try If Orquera had taken it on one or two stees more Italy would have scored,but it wasnt to be ,and Scotland defended well, and didnt give Italy much overall .A good game and an unexpected result for me at least .Again well done Scotland ,opens the championship up even more imo.
Posted 16:37 09th February 2013