Played well: Sean Lamont
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Scotland crossed the line twice on Saturday to claim a morale-boosting 21-8 victory, thus condemning Italy to the Six Nations wooden spoon.
Line-out accuracy and goal-kicking had let down Italy early on as Leonardo Ghiraldini and Mirco Bergamasco struggled to find their range.
But hitting the target was no such problem for the hungry Scots as tries from Nick de Luca and Nikki Walker finally ended an embarrassing run that had seen their last score at Murrayfield coming in November 2009. Andy Robinson was happy.
It was by no means a classic for what was a basement battle in Edinburgh. Both sides were desperate to avoid bottom spot in a World Cup year and the efforts showed a great deal of guts while the showmanship was duly sacrificed.
Scotland did show flashes of good rugby though and it can't be underplayed how much makeshift centre Sean Lamont has brought to their midfield alongside Joe Ansbro, who was unfortunately carried from the action early on with a knee injury.
But his replacement - Nick De Luca - was to be the man to finally put an end to their unwanted Murrayfield try-scoring record as he was on the end of a well-worked move down the left wing, finishing soundly in the corner on 47 minutes. Chris Paterson was unsuccessful with the conversion but did contribute eleven points on the day while making another try-saving tackle.
Italy were very much in proceedings though and were in fact ahead at the break, courtesy of an Andrea Masi try, with Bergamasco adding three points to 20 minutes later.
Scotland however moved back into the lead in the 55th minute, when Walker shrugged off replacement Luke McLean's challenge to atone for his earlier missed tackle with a try.
The Italians fought gamely to try and force their way back into it, but Paterson added another penalty before making that fantastic late tackle on McLean to deny the Italians a score.
Man-of-the-match: Despite being outrun by a hooker when he probably should have scored, Sean Lamont was superb for Scotland. Strong in the tackle and powerful when in possession, his move to inside centre could now be permanent.
The scorers:
For Scotland:
Tries: De Luca, Walker
Con: Paterson
Pen: Paterson 3
For Italy:
Try: Masi
Pen: Bergamasco
Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 John Barclay, 6 Nathan Hines, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Euan Murray, 18 Richie Vernon, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Nick De Luca.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Kris Burton, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (capt), 7 Paul Derbyshire, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Valerio Bernabo, 19 Robert Barbieri, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Luciano Orquera, 22 Luke McLean.
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Alan Lewis, John Lacey (both Ireland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Comments
crunchfit says...
Hard luck Italy. It's a shame that you guys were awarded the wooden spoon based on points difference.
Posted 18:24 20th March 2011
Lucasrg says...
Well done Scotland. Good performance and efficiency.
Italians did undeperform but I did see some relly nice handling in the second half.
Mallet has to stay, it would be a terrible idea to fire him.
And now the long sweet wait untill the world cup.
Posted 18:23 20th March 2011
carpelone says...
Another game played in good spirit between Italy and Scotland.Well done, Scotland!
Italy's display was lazy, inaccurate and a little bit arrogant. They put on phases over phases before conceding the break to Lamont, which led to the first try.
With Ghiraldini, Italy's line-out struggles, it was always like this in this Six Nation.
Leadership in the team must improve, to hold on in the critical moments and to come back in the final minutes. Why did the hell Parisse call a scrum instead of kicking or going to touch in the final quarter?
The game of yesterday showed the difference between McLean and Masi at full back.
First half was not bad, however played without the necessary punch.
Overall, Italy's Six Nation was good and the gap with respect to the other teams is closing. Semenzato is Italy's pick of the tournement.
Back to the game, I was quite surprised that PR chose Lamont as MoM. I thought he had a bad game and that he does not fit at inside centre (he can not pass). Tindall is a maestro, in comparison.
Congratulations to Richies Gray, Scotland could have found a dominator in the lino-out and a terrific ball carrier for the next 10 years.
Paterson is moving, for his courage and accuracy. Overall, the Scottish pack outsmarted the Italians. Scotland were very good to adapt to the breakdown interpretation of the ref, who was much more permissive with respect to the standard of the Six Nations (a little bit too many Scottish hands in the rucks).
The VoM (Villain of the Match) was the referee. Primadonna refereeing should not be allowed. Instead of putting on that face when he stopped an Italian attack ("I am so good that I should have known better this), pick up the ball and run. You would have won a laughter from everybody.
Posted 11:25 20th March 2011
mlbp says...
Congratulations to Scotland. They should have beaten England and today they deserve their win. Great work, excellent competition in the lineouts (you rarely see a team challenging the opposition, everybody seems to be content to push once the other team has won the ball), good hands and excellent discipline.
My villain of the match would be Luke McLean because his tackle on Nikki Walker was like mine would have been in such a situation, and he dropped the ball when he was tackled by Paterson (what a player! how he can play international rugby on such a lightweight frame is a marvel to me). Richie Gray should be given a new pair of Italian pants as a present and not try to steal Parisse's again...
Excellent work by the Scottish forwards. Can anybody explain the way Cross binds at scrumtime? His way of bending his elbow before the engagement is at least peculiar, and Perugini had a field day. Why Cross wasn't penalized is mind-boggling.
Italy played really well but they lack the necessary cutting edge at times. Without Masi they looked more vulnerable.
After this match I still wonder what France could do with a scrum half like Semenzato, so fast when retrieving the ball from rucks. The French scrum halves take years to find the ball and extracting it. Semenzato plays at 78rpm, like the old vinyl records.
Why Parisse and Gray are not included in the Six Nations best player award shortlist is still a mystery.
I hope Ansbro's injury is not serious. He seemed to have a serious knock on his patella. He's a talented back and when he went off I expected the worst for Scotland.
Posted 19:35 19th March 2011