Scotland 21 Italy 8: Overdue Tries as Scots Avoid Wooden Spoon

Filed under: Rugby Union, Six Nations, Internationals, Scotland Rugby

Nick De Luca ended Scotland's long wait for a Murrayfield try as they avoided the wooden spoon in this year's Six Nations.

De Luca went over early in the second half for the Scots' first try here in 11 hours and 54 minute of rugby.

It was the turning point of the game and Scotland went on to complete their first victory of the championship and consign the Italians to bottom place for the sixth time in seven seasons.

But they were certainly given problems before the interval by an Italian team who recovered from a shaky start.

Scotland, who have conceded early points so often during this Six Nations, were the first to make an impact on this occasion.

They spent the opening stages in the Italian 22 and were rewarded with a penalty from Chris Paterson after four minutes.

But, once Italy gained possession, they used it impressively and Andrea Masi, scorer of their try against France a week earlier, timed his run perfectly to join the line, ease past Nikki Walker and go over in the corner after 11 minutes.

It could have been much worse for Scotland because Mirco Bergamasco hit an upright with his conversion and had already sliced a penalty narrowly wide.

Simon Danielli was inches away from that elusive Murrayfield try during a sustained spell of pressure that produced another penalty for Paterson in the 18th minute.

But Italy regained the lead when Bergamasco was finally successful with a kick from 23 metres.

The Italians suffered a major blow, though, when the influential Masi went off with an injury after 32 minutes.

Scotland, who missed a chance to be ahead at half time when Paterson dragged a penalty wide, also lost a key player when winger Joe Ansbro suffered a knee injury.

They did regain the lead, however, six minutes into the second half when De Luca ended their supporters' long, long wait for a Murray field try.

Paterson failed with the conversion, but was profitably involved in the 55th minute when he put in Walker for another try. You wait so long and two come along at once....

Paterson added another penalty and also had the final say with a marvellous try-saving tackle on Luke McLean two minutes from the end.

REACTION:
Scotland coach Andy Robinson praised his players' approach:
"We had two clear cut opportunities to score tries in the first 15 minutes, but ended up with only six points from penalties, but that's what you've seen from us throughout the season. We created opportunities in the second half. I'm delighted with the tries - and delighted with the composure and attitude of the squad. They want to go out and play and move our game forward - and they got their reward here."

Robinson was happier with several parts of the Scottish game:
"There was improvement in our set pieces, which was down to our homework. We have put in a lot of work on the Italian line-out in the last six days. The guys also scrummed well, but I've been seeing an improvement throughout the championship."

On his team's overall form in the championship:
"We are here to win games of rugby and I won't hide our disappointment not to have won a game before this one. We have to got to look at it for the start of the next championship, but we have seen in all our games that the players give everything. It's about the small margins and we should be winning at the start of the championship, but we haven't been good enough to win games."

On his planning for the World Cup:
"There is a lot of hard work to be done between now and the World Cup. We can now start talking about it and the preparations we will put in place. The first two games will be crucial against Georgia and Romania. We've got to focus on those games, which are potential banana skins for us because of the way they play. They are pretty physical. We've got to get through those matches, then enjoy the fact we are playing Argentina, who we have performed well against. We will see then what happens. We are going to New Zealand ready to play and, as we have done in every game in the championship, we will go out and try to move the ball and attack from anywhere. We are not frightened to attack any team, which is the development the team has made in the championship."

Scotland captain Alastair Kellock outlined the players' reaction to the badly-needed victory and long-awaited Murrayfield tries:
"Relief is the right word to describe our reaction to scoring the tries. There was no panic at half time because we were doing the right things. We started the Six Nations at a level where we don't want to be and have edged forward."

On the main men behind the win:
"The front row worked incredibly hard. The scrummage against England was very good and we have taken that confidence into this game. We provided a far better platform. We are a difficult team to defend against and the main thing was to get the ball into the hands of the right guys."

Italy's coach Nick Mallett was heartened by his team's showing:
"Mentally we were not out of this game. We had no problems when were leading and had played well, but we went chasing the game and gave ten points to Scotland at a time when we were attacking. Games turn on very small things and this was nothing like our match against England when we didn't pitch up. The players really wanted to win and it was a very disappointed dressing room afterwards.

"We were very embarrassed about the England game because we wanted to play five good Six Nations games and we only played four good ones. I don't think Italy have ever been as competitive in our three home games. We played well in four, badly in one, so 80 per cent is a pretty good effort. We are in a situation where we could have won two or three games this years, so I'm pleased we are making a positive contribution to the Six Nations. Italy are no longer a game where people can say it's going to be an easy win."

 

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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/03/19/scotland-21-italy-8-overdue-tries-as-scots-avoid-wooden-spoon/

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