They were freed from the shackles of a looming wooden spoon but this was famine rather than feast. At least Henry Pyrgos’s late try ended Scotland’s lean spell and avoided a seventh straight defeat but Vern Cotter will still have plenty to stew over after these two sides served up another nail-biting finish.
Pyrgos, the replacement scrum-half, plunged over with six minutes remaining, before which Italy were well worth their 12-9 lead. For Scotland the defence was sound – the porousness evident in the second half in Dublin last week was replaced with granite – but there was little attacking ambition shown, at least until the introduction of Pyrgos and the centre Peter Horne.
Italy’s Tommaso Allan, playing against four of his former Scotland Under-20 team-mates, had raised the stakes with his third penalty on the hour and the desperation that befell Scotland will not please Cotter. The New Zealander has been running his eye over his fringe players, both in this match and against Ireland, and for next week’s return clash with Italy at Murrayfield World Cup certainties such as Stuart Hogg, Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell will enter the fray. Few names were added to that list on Saturday.
John Hardie, the Kiwi openside without a club, caught the eye in the loose and Matt Scott, too, is a positive for Cotter, who will cut 15 from his 46-man squad after next Saturday’s clash. “Life is easier when you are winning games but we know we’ll have to lift our performance for next week,” said Cotter. “As soon as we stopped giving away needless penalties we were much better. Other players will get opportunities next week and we will look to step things up again.”
Scotland were not helped when their captain, Grant Gilchrist, was struck down with illness before kick-off – the duties passing to Alasdair Strokosch. For Italy it was a first outing since they were thumped by Wales in Rome on the final day of the Six Nations and within the first few seconds it showed. Davide Giazzon knocked on from the kick-off and Duncan Weir kicked Scotland into an early lead after the much-changed visiting pack won a penalty at the resulting scrum.
Those early signs of Italian rust were soon gone and some neat interplay behind the scrum belied the absence Sergio Parisse through illness.
At least Scotland’s defence was rapidly improving after a couple of early missed tackles; Mike Cusack made one particularly resounding thud and Gordon Reid forced an impressive turnover before Weir doubled the advantage with another penalty on 13 minutes.
Gonzalo Garcia was on long-range kicking duty for Italy and while his first effort struck the right-hand post, his second, from just inside the Scottish half, sailed over.
Indiscipline from both sides continued and Parisse’s replacement, Samuela Vunisa, due to arrive at Saracens after the World Cup, was pinged at the breakdown to allow Weir another shot at goal.
The gap was three again on 25 minutes when Allan slotted a penalty after Scotland infringed at the scrum and Italy came again, first through Giovanbattista Venditti down the right, then Vunisa up the middle. Without Parisse, though, they failed to capitalise when in Scotland’s 22. They came close on the stroke of half-time but, with JP Doyle playing advantage, Venditti was not expecting the cross-kick and Italy made do with another Allan penalty for 9-9 at the break.
The second half began with Italy still the more dangerous with ball in hand. After a number of phases down the left the replacement Martin Castrogiovanni was adjudged to have been held up by Doyle – who chose not to consult the TMO. When Scotland finally cleared their lines, Weir was afforded another penalty on the right but this one slid wide, leaving the scores level.
Allan was presented with another penalty in the final quarter and he put Italy ahead for the first time in the match before Scott found himself free down the right, fed the supporting Pyrgos inside and Scotland had avenged the Murrayfield defeat earlier this year, which condemned them to the foot of the Six Nations table.
Italy’s coach, Jacques Brunel, said: “It’s disappointing to lose a match where we had so much possession. Our main aim was to understand where we are as a squad regarding our strength and conditioning.”
