Scots slip up against Italy
Comments
0
A last-minute penalty try earned Italy a 22-19 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday and only their second away win in the Six Nations.
In a match billed as the battle to avoid the wooden spoon, Italy trailed throughout largely due to the trusty boot of Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw, but snatched the win at the death after camping on the Scotland line.
With Italy's pack bulldozing over the line the match referee had no choice but to award a penalty try, which was converted by Tommaso Allan to spark Italian celebrations as they secured their first points of the 2015 tournament. They previously won in Scotland in 2007.
Scotland, impressive despite defeats by France and Wales in their opening two fixtures, made a fast start with Laidlaw's early penalty followed by centre Mark Bennett's try after he intercepted Kelly Haimona's pass.
Italy's forward power quickly manifested itself though with a huge shove near the Scotland line resulting in Joshua Furno touching down to halve the deficit.
Laidlaw and Haimona traded penalties before another Laidlaw kick put Scotland 16-8 ahead.
A frenetic first half ended with Italy breathing down Scotland's necks after Giovanbattista Venditti reacted quickly to Haimona's penalty against the post, turning a possible three points into seven for a converted try.
The scoreboard slowed down after the break with Scotland's forays forward meeting an Italian wall while the visitors struggled for meaningful ball.
Allan wasted a penalty that would have put the Italians ahead while Laidlaw's penalty was the only score of a tense second period until the late drama.
Man of the match: Kelly Haimona was a star in running the Italians that really looked fired up, there was much talk about the battle of the No.10s and he won it easily against Peter Horne.
Moment of the match: Undoubtedly the moment which handed the Italians the match was when the maul went down in the 80th minute and the Italians knew that there was little option but to hand the victory to them through a penalty try.
Villain of the match: Ben Toolis' yellow card was foolish and set the Italians up for the win with the Scots forced to collapse the next maul
Scorers:
For Scotland:
Try: Bennett
Con: Laidlaw
Pens: Laidlaw 4
For Italy:
Tries: Furno, Venditti, Penalty try
Cons: Haimona, Mclean
Pen: Haimona
Teams:
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Peter Horne, 9 Greig Laidlaw (captain), 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Hamish Watson, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Greig Tonks, 23 Matt Scott.
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Michele Visentin, 13 Luca Morisi, 12 Enrico Bacchin, 11 Giovambattista Venditti, 10 Kelly Haimona, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Simone Favaro, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Joshua Furno, 4 George Biagi, 3 Dario Chistolini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Lorenzo Cittadini, 19 Marco Fuser, 20 Samuela Vunisa, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Giulio Bisegni.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
ADVERTISEMENT
