Scotland held off the spirited Italians to give coach Ian McGeechan the tonic
of a much-needed victory in his last RBS 6 Nations match.
McGeechan, whose job is being advertised in the southern hemisphere, was
anxious for a World Cup pick-me-up after a generally depressing Six Nations and,
although there was never much between the two sides, the Scots just about
deserved their second win of the campaign.
Winger Chris Paterson contributed 18 points in reaching his century as
Scotland secured fourth place in this battle of the also-rans.
With Wales having been condemned to the wooden spoon following their defeat in
Paris two hours earlier, some of the pressure was lifted from McGeechan's men
and that was reflected in a first half in which they played with a new-found
freedom.
They had managed just three tries in their opening four matches but doubled
their tally by half-time thanks to some lively, penetrating attacking play, with
Kenny Logan turning the clock back with a vintage wing display and Glenn
Metcalfe adding a cutting thrust from full-back.
Yet Italy, who began the championship with a win over Wales, were in sight of
their first away victory when full-back Mirco Bergamasco opened the scoring with
a fourth-minute try.
The Azzurri had paid the penalty for woeful openings in their back-to-back
defeats by England and France but this time they made the best possible start as
the 20-year-old made the most of an overlap on the right.
If the pre-match display by the Red Devils parachute regiment suggested
Scottish rugby was in freefall, the opening exchanges did nothing to dispel the
theory.
Flanker Jason White powered over on 11 minutes to raise Scotland hopes but
memories of their ignominious 34-20 defeat in Rome three years ago came flooding
back as the Azzurri continued to match them stride for stride.
Two tries in a four-minute spell, the reward for some enterprising play,
looked to have finally killed off the visitors.
First White powered his way past Ramiro Pez to touch down and then a superb
break from Logan split the Italian defence and set up the position for Gregor
Townsend to get centre James McLaren racing over.
Fly-half Pez dummied his way over on 26 minutes and kicked two goals to cut
the deficit to a single point but the alert Logan caught the Italian defence
napping to nip over from a quickly-taken tap penalty just before half-time.
When Pez kicked another penalty, Scotland became increasingly edgy as the
Italians battled away for the decisive score and the tension was briefly calmed
on 63 minutes thanks to some opportunist play from number eight Simon Taylor.
The Edinburgh man broke away from a scrum, leaving Italian captain Alessandro
Troncon in his wake, to feed Paterson and the winger cleverly chipped the ball
over replacement full-back Gert Peens to re-gather and score.
Still Italy came back and replacement back row forward Scott Palmer crashed
over from Troncon's short pass for their third try on 68 minutes and Pez kicked
his fourth goal to set up a nailbiting finish.
But Paterson had the final say with a 42-metre penalty a minute into stoppage
time, much to the relief of the 45,739 crowd.
While Scotland could savour a face-saving victory, Italy emerged with credit
as they demonstrated coach John Kirwan's belief that the Azzurri are now on a
par with Scotland and Wales in the "second division" of the Six nations
championship.
Teams:
Scotland: G. Metcalfe, Paterson, McLaren, Craig, Logan,
Townsend, Redpath, T. Smith, Bulloch, Douglas, Murray, Hines,
White, Mower, Taylor.
Replacements: Russell for Bulloch (77), Grimes for Murray (60),
Beattie for White (43).
Not Used: G. Kerr, Blair, G. Ross, Utterson.
Tries: White, McLaren, Logan, Paterson.
Cons: Paterson 2.
Pens: Paterson 3.
Italy: M. Bergamasco, Vaccari, Masi, Raineri, Dallan, Pez,
Troncon, Lo Cicero, Festuccia, Martinez, Bzzi, Giacheri,
De Rossi, Persico, Phillips.
Replacements: Peens for Vaccari (41),
Castrogiovanni for Martinez (54), Dellape for Giacheri (78),
Palmer for Phillips (57).
Not Used: Ongaro, Mazzantini, Mazzucato.
Tries: M. Bergamasco, Pez, Palmer.
Cons: Pez 2.
Pens: Pez 2.
Att: 45,739
Ref: David McHugh (Ireland).
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