Here’s the match report - and that will be all from me. Thank you for reading, congratulations to Scotland, and roll on the rest of Super Saturday. Bye for now.
The match report from Murrayfield will be coming right up, but in the meanwhile:
Super Saturday is just getting started, of course. Lee Calvert will be taking you through Ireland v England, live, right here:
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The BBC presenter Gabby Logan mentions that as it stands, Scotland’s Premiership players will not be released by their clubs for next Friday’s match against France. That would be a bit of a shambles.
Luca Bigi, the Italy captain, has a chat with the BBC: “It was a tough championship for us ... we are so far from where we want to be ... discipline was the key of this game ... we have to keep working, we have to focus on what we can control, and discipline is one of these things ... it’s a tough moment for us but we never give up. From tomorrow, we’ll turn the page ... and we’ll meet up in June for another tour.”
Hamish Watson speaks to the BBC: “I thought we did really well, we were clinical when we had the ball and it was a good performance overall ... Italy always come here with a lot of ambition ... it’s nice to get a good scoreline.”
The captain Stuart Hogg isn’t so sure about the clinical part, but is pleased nonetheless: “At times we lacked that clinical edge ... but I’m chuffed to bits with that, the guys put in a big performance, and that’s where we want to be ... it’s the little things that have killed us ... that’s been bitterly disappointing, but today was more like us, we can throw the ball around, and have some fun ... I did enjoy it [playing 10], plenty of ball touches, but I think I’ll leave it to Finn ...”
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Luca Bigi, the Italy captain, has a chat with his troops in a post-match huddle. They all look ashen-faced. Why can’t they sort their defending out, at least a little bit more? Are they badly coached? Is it physicality? Is it something else? Answers on a postcard please.
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Full-time! Scotland 52-10 Italy
An overwhelming win for Scotland, and more desperately disappointing stuff from Italy. Gregor Townsend’s side will go to Paris with a record win against the Azzurri on the books. They scored eight tries, and they used the space on offer ruthlessly at times. If they pull a win against France out of the hat next Friday, it will be a stunning end to the tournament, to match that stirring opening win at Twickenham. Duhan van der Merwe looked excellent today, and the hooker David Cherry had a fine game - scoring two tries just as Van der Merwe did. Gregor Townsend will take that, you feel.
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78 min: Hamish Watson is man of the match. He made 21 carries today.
Meanwhile, here is Steele’s first try for Scotland via their Twitter:
First Scotland try for @ScottSteele247 🤩 pic.twitter.com/b5V1gMp3fF
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 20, 2021
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75 min: The Italy wing Ioane is back from his sin-bin but Scotland continue to dominate. This is the most points that Italy have conceded this year: they shipped 50 against France in the opening round. Much more of this and they will finish the tournament with a points difference of more than -200, which ain’t great.
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71 min: Try! Scotland 52-10 Italy
That is exquisite from Ali Price, the replacement scrum-half, on the counterattack. Italy are looking for a consolation score, but they cough up possession deep in Scottish territory, and Price puts on the afterburners to sprint down the left wing and into the Italian half. Van der Merwe is running a good support line on his left shoulder. Price waits to attract a couple of tacklers, then calmly offloads one-handed, to Van der Merwe who is clear to run to the line. Hogg converts. That is eight tries for Scotland now, to Italy’s one.
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70 min: Some bench-emptying is now going on. The Italy captain Bigi goes off, Lovotti and Lucchesi come on.
65 min: Try! Scotland 45-10 Italy (Johnson)
Bigi tries to keep him out, and hits him hard, but Johnson has plenty of momentum on the crash-ball and manages to get over the try line. He is immediately taken off, for Harris, with Watson the No 7 also going off with Haining coming on. Hogg converts. Mbanda is on for Italy now, and Canna and Zanon also came on a few minutes ago.
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65 min: Scotland win a penalty at the scrum and celebrate accordingly. They try to take it quickly, but the referee stops them, but it doesn’t matter - Sam Johnson is soon over for another try ...
63 min: Scotland come again in attack. Hogg pulls off a lovely between-the-legs pass for Van der Merwe who is in tonnes of space on the left. The powerful Scotland win crashes towards the try-line, barrelling through a couple of tackles, but he loses control of the ball just before the line, knocks it on, and Italy will have a scrum put-in virtually on their own line.
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62 min: It’s TMO time again, for a shoulder charge by the Italy No 8 Lamaro on Jamie Ritchie at a ruck. It looks nasty on replay, but the TMO decides that because the contact is shoulder-to-shoulder, it’s only a penalty. Looks a bit of a generous call by the officials, that time.
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60 min: Yellow card for Italy! (Ioane)
The TMO has a look at Ioane’s challenge on Hogg during that Scottish attack. He dumped him on the floor, and although Hogg landed on his back, it was a dangerous tackle. “Sorry buddy,” Ioane tells Hogg before jogging off, and there are no hard feelings. That could have been unpleasant for Hogg but thankfully he is fine, and seems to accept the apology unquestioningly.
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60 min: Scotland surge on the attack on the blindside. There is a forward pass. Monty Ioane is about to be yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle, I think ...
58 min: Moving towards the final quarter and Scotland retain a strangehold on the match. Italy, bar the early try, have not really been in it. The commentators are allowing themselves to fantasise about the days that Italy had a rock-solid scrum and generally provided stiff opposition for all the sides in the Six Nations.
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55 min: Changes afoot. Garbisi and Mori go off for Italy, while Ali Price (for Steele) and Jaco Van der Walt (for Maitland) are on for Scotland.
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Try! Scotland 38-10 Italy (Steele)
More space, more points for the hosts, and the Harlequins No 9 Steele is over from short range - his first try for Scotland! Hogg converts.
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52 min: Yellow card for Italy! (Negri)
The Italy No 6, Negri, is sin-binned for slapping the ball out of Hamish Watson’s hands with Scotland on the attack. The referee explains that it is partly for persistent infringing, with three penalties coming in the same move.
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48 min: There is a resounding thud on the referee’s mic as he takes an accidental Scottish elbow in the face. Thankfully, Pascal Gaüzère seems to be OK. Scotland have just freshened up their entire front row:
50' | Three changes for Scotland.
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 20, 2021
George Turner replaces David Cherry at hooker, Simon Berghan comes on for Zander Fagerson at tight-head and Jamie Bhatti replaces Rory Sutherland at loose-head.
[31-10] #SCOvITA pic.twitter.com/ey4fpU5jWU
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47 min: An email from ‘Blackflame Solutions’, looking back at the first-half sin-bin for Italy’s Mori: “Lots of talk about why we bother with Italy in the 6N. With yellow cards like that I wonder why Italy bother with the 6N. That’s not even a penalty for the stronger teams. It’s partly their own doing, but Italy are reffed to a different standard than the other teams.”
I agree it was probably on the harsh side, although I reckon it would have been a penalty for other teams, too.
44 min: Try! Scotland 31-10 Italy (Cherry)
A second try of the match for the Scotland hooker, who throws the ball in, then joins up at the back of the maul, gets his hands on the ball again and dives over for a simple try. Hogg hits an excellent conversion through the posts from out wide. Franco Smith is pictured, looking extremely glum, as he watches his side fall even further behind early in this second half.
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43 min: Hogg and Maitland link up, around the edge of the 22. The ref pulls it back for a penalty against Bigi for not rolling away. Scotland have a lineout five metres out.
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42 min: Scotland crush the Italian scrum and win a penalty. It’s kicked deep for the left-hand corner by Hogg. Italy are pinned back early doors in this second half. Cherry throws the lineout long and Scotland can spend some more time in their opponents’ 22.
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Second half kick-off!
Garbisi sends his restart out on the full. He looks disgusted with himself, as well he might. Scottish scrum on halfway.
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Italy made 111 tackles to Scotland’s 38 in the first half. Unfortunately, they also missed 27 tackles ... Scotland made 661 metres with ball in hand, Italy made 199, Scotland made seven line breaks to Italy’s one. And Scotland had 69% possession. It was pretty one-sided, let’s be honest, and Italy need to sort their defensive structure out.
And here is Robert Kitson, looking to a Super Saturday that would be a bit super-er if the tournament was actually concluded today -
Can Wales win the slam? Paul Rees previews their date with destiny in Paris this evening:
Half-time! Scotland 24-10 Italy
It was an encouraging start for Italy with the early try for Bigi, but it’s been the same old story since then. The young centre, Mori, was perhaps a shade unfortunate for the yellow card, but there’s been a lot of space for Scotland to attack, and they have utilised it well and already claimed a bonus point.
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39 min: Into the final minute of the half, and Italy now have the put-in at a defensive scrum. Mori soon makes more inroads with a powerful run after being teed up by Varney. Varney then grabs the ball himself and makes a good burst - and Scotland are penalised for lying across the ball at the tackle area. Garbisi punts the ball long into touch, the clock is in the red, and Italy will have one final attempt before the break. But there is a knock-on and that is half-time.
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38 min: Padovani snatches a pass in midfield and sprints into space, but he’s pulled back for another penalty against Italy, which Gaüzère spotted at a lineout. The Azzurri will have to spend a few more seconds, or minutes, on the back foot before half-time.
Here’s Van der Merwe running in one of Scotland’s first-half tries:
📸 Duhan runs in one of Scotland's four first-half tries.#SCOvITA pic.twitter.com/qeVMs6Qt0I
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 20, 2021
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35 min: Huw Jones is now penalised in the tackle area and Garbisi spanks a touch-finding kick towards the same corner in which Italy scored their early try. They could do with a score before half-time if they are going to keep any hope of getting something from this match. Cherry, the Scottish hooker, has now gone down injured but he looks OK to continue.
33 min: During a break in play, the injured fly-half Finn Russell brings on some water for his Scotland teammates. Dr James Robson, the Scotland and British & Irish Lions doctor, also comes on to the field - he’s celebrating his 250th international match today. Riccioni, the Italy prop, has gone off with Zilocchi coming on.
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28 min: Try! Scotland 24-10 Italy (Jones)
Garbisi puts up a garryowen into the Scots’ 22, but there is space on the left wing for Scotland to stream into after Graham makes a good catch and they mount a counterattack. Van der Merwe bursts down the wing, and feeds Hogg, who pulls off a lovely simple offload which sends Jones into space and eventually over the line. Nice stuff from Scotland, but there is certainly plenty of space to work with. Hogg converts. Italy are back up to 15 men, with Mori’s sin-bin ending. This is starting to look ugly for Italy if they cannot tighten up their defending.
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27 min: Scotland keep attacking and move into the 15th phase. The ball becomes a little slow, and Graham is absolutely smashed by Ioane as a result, who comes rushing out of the defensive line, and hits his man with incredible power, driving him backwards, still inside the Italian 22. It was a perfectly fair challenge but Graham, unsurprisingly, has had the wind knocked out of him completely and requires treatment afterwards.
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25 min: Scotland attack again, searching for a fourth try of the first half and an attacking bonus point. Van der Merwe smashes through a tackle or two in midfield. Fagerson takes it up and crashes into contact but the Italian tackling is strong ... for the moment. Hogg and Graham both make good runs and Scotland work the ball into the Italian 22 ... it only looks a matter of time before they score another try.
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21 min: Try! Scotland 17-10 Italy (Graham)
The Italian defence is all over the shop again, even more so now they are down a man. There is tonnes of space for Maitland to barge his way on a diagonal run into the Italian 22, the ball is popped up to Graham after a desperate tackle, and Graham darts over. Hogg misses the kick. Franco Smith is on his radio and looking animated - let’s say annoyed - with how his team are defending.
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20 min: Yellow card for Italy! (Mori)
The 20-year-old centre shows a little too much enthusiasm in the tackle, failing to wrap his arms and smashing into Johnson with Scotland on the attack. He gets 10 minutes in the bin. On replay he did seem to be trying to at least start to wrap his right arm around the tacklee, but not quickly enough for the liking of the referee, Gaüzère and the TMO.
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19 min: Scotland attack in waves. Varney, the Italy scrum-half, bounces off Skinner the Scots second row as he charges down the right wing. Scotland work it back to the opposite side of the field and work through a few phases, but Gaüzère penalises Scotland for holding on in the tackle. Now the TMO is checking for a tackle by Mori on Sam Johnson and he’s going to get a yellow card.
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Penalty! 17 min: Scotland 12-10 Italy (Garbisi)
The Azzurri aren’t lying down just yet. The fly-half makes no mistake with the kick and gets his team to within two points.
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16 min: This is breathless stuff ... Italy hit back immediately by punching their way down the left and Scotland give up not one but two penalties according to the referee, Gaüzère. The advantage is initially played but then it’s brought back for a penalty which Garbisi will kick for goal.
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Try! 13 min: Scotland 12-7 Italy (Van der Merwe)
Scotland in front. Hogg converts. It all came from a scintillating run by Jones. Hogg took it up on the left wing after Jones was finally dragged down by the Italian defensive cover. Scotland worked it through a couple of powerful carries and Van der Merwe skipped over on the left wing for the third try of the match.
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13 min: Huw Jones now embarks on a storming run, straight through the middle and into space from deep, with the Italian defence all over the place. He is eventually tackles having made it nearly into the Italian 22 ...
10 min: Try! Scotland 5-7 Italy (Cherry)
Scotland hit back almost immediately. It’s a first Scotland try for Cherry, the hooker, flopping over from short range following a second lineout for the Scots. There is a bit of pushing and shoving afterwards, too, but everyone calms down in the end. Hogg misses the conversion.
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9 min: Attacking lineout for Scotland in a very similar area, five metres out from the Italian line, as the visitors scored off a couple of minutes ago. Italy force them out into touch and it’s another lineout for Scotland ...
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6 min: Try! Scotland 0-7 Italy (Bigi)
Italy are over in the corner! The referee wants to check it ... on-field decision is try ... and on replay it’s shown to be a superb finish by the captain, Bigi, and his first try in 37 matches for his country. It was a booming kick for touch by Garbisi from the earlier penalty that gave Italy a great attacking platform ... they rumbled a maul towards the corner and Bigi found the space to dot down right in the corner. Excellent start by Italy and Garbisi adds a fantastic conversion from out on the touchline!
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5 min: Italy get their first lineout just right. Varney feeds Mori, the young debutant centre, who crashes into contact and gets over the gain line. Italy win a penalty and Garbisi drills it crossfield into the corner - a much better kick. And now Italy rumble a maul towards the Scottish line ...
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2 min: There’s a knock-on by Scotland after the first lineout, and Italy have a scrum. Italy win a penalty after the initial scrum is reset - Zander Fagerson is penalised - and Italy have a penalty that they kick for touch ... but Garbisi pushes the kick a little far and misses his touch. That’s a poor error and a wasted attacking platform.
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First half kick-off!
The French referee Pascal Gaüzère blows his whistle, and we are under way. Garbisi finds touch in style with his first kick for Italy.
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The teams are out and it’s time for the anthems. Kick-off is two minutes away. Don’t forget - you can email me or send a tweet with your thoughts on the match. The Scotland captain Stuart Hogg, issuing a few instructions in the pre-match huddle, looks pumped up and ready to go.
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Perfect conditions in Edinburgh. It’s 14C and sunny:
Glorious day at Murrayfield for #SCOvITA. Close your eyes and you could be in Rome. Kinda. pic.twitter.com/6OKZuRq651
— Mark Palmer (@MarkPalmerST) March 20, 2021
The Scotland coach Gregor Townsend talks to the BBC: “It’s massive for us as a group [producing a good performance today], we want to show a true picture of who we are ... and probably [so far in the tournament] for a game and a half we’ve done that ... last week was a disappointment, we did well to get back to 24-all, but we didn’t play that well. We need an improvement.”
Regarding Stuart Hogg starting at fly-half: “He was keen to play there, he enjoys it in training, we wanted to give him an opportunity to do it from the start.”
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This, lest we forget, is Super Saturday in the Six Nations:
We start Super Saturday with....@Scotlandteam v @Federugby 🙌#GuinnessSixNations #SCOvITA pic.twitter.com/HQjO9tKO81
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 20, 2021
Teams
Finn Russell is ruled out for Scotland after suffering concussion in the defeat by Ireland, which sees Stuart Hogg starting at No 10 for the first time, alongside Scott Steele of Harlequins at scrum-half. There are seven changes overall for Scotland: Darcy Graham starts on the wing, Sean Maitland switches to full-back and Huw Jones, who scored a spectacular try after coming off the bench last week, lines up at outside-centre. David Cherry makes his first start for Scotland at hooker, Zander Fagerson returns at tighthead prop, and there’s also an all-new second row pairing of Sam Skinner and Grant Gilchrist.
Four changes for Italy with Edoardo Padovani, Federico Mori, Federico Ruzza and Marco Riccioni coming into the starting XV.
Scotland: Sean Maitland; Darcy Graham; Huw Jones, Sam Johnson; Duhan Van der Merwe; Stuart Hogg, Scott Steele; Rory Sutherland, David Cherry, Zander Fagerson; Sam Skinner, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson. Replacements: George Turner, Jamie Bhatti, Simon Berghan, Alex Craig, Nick Haining, Ali Price, Jaco Van der Walt, Chris Harris.
Italy: Edoardo Padovani; Mattia Bellini, Juan Ignacio Brex, Federico Mori, Montana Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Luca Bigi (captain), Marco Riccioni, Niccolo Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Sebastian Negri, Johan Meyer, Michele Lamaro. Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Andrea Lovotti, Giosuè Zilocchi, Riccardo Favretto, Maxime Mbanda, Marcello Violi, Carlo Canna, Marco Zanon.
Preamble
Scotland and Italy have both lost more than they’ve won so far in this Six Nations, but that is where the similarities end. After a rousing opening win against England, Gregor Townsend’s team have suffered two narrow defeats, by a single point to grand-slam chasing Wales and by three points against Ireland last week. The margins have been small, the performances have largely been encouraging, and Scotland could still finish second overall if they defeat Italy today and France next week. Such a result would justify the optimism that blossomed after the win at Twickenham, but as for today, anything other than victory is unthinkable. The nature of it, and the quality of the rugby they play with the captain Stuart Hogg starting at fly-half, will be the test.
Italy, on the other hand, are going nowhere fast. Four defeats and a points difference of -142 in this year’s tournament suggests it might be time to let someone else have a go, but if there is a positive for Italy to cling to, it’s that their previous Six Nations victory came in Edinburgh. The problem is that was six years ago, and they are now on a 31-match losing streak in the competition. The coach Franco Smith speaks of development, and of positive work during the week in training, but a big performance is required to prove they belong. Let’s hope they prove the doubters wrong and make a game of it this afternoon. Team news, pre-match reading and more coming up.
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