GIVES SCOTS’ CAMPAIGN A FLYING START
row duo Jamie George and Mako Vunipola, deservedly named man of the match.
England turned the tide back in their favour. Slade fed May wide on the left, and had the presence of mind to remain switched on and win the race to touch down May’s kick.
The score punctured Ireland’s making a record 66th appearance in the Six Nations but it turned out to be another day to forget for the long-suffering Azzurri skipper.
Conor O’Shea’s team did pull three scores back through Guglielmo Palazzani, Edoardo Padovani and Angelo Esposito in the final 10 minutes but it was not enough to prevent them slumping to their 18th straight defeat in the competition.
Italy scored first through a Tommaso Allan penalty but Scotland moved in front when a crossfield kick from Finn Russell put Kinghorn over in the 11th minute.
He soon added a second following a swift switch in play from right to left.
The game was sealed seven minutes into the second half, when Tommy Seymour’s break put Italy on the back-foot.
Russell put in a slick grubber-kick and Hogg raced in to dot down with momentum, and when Sexton chased the game with an ambitious pass Slade picked it off to bring the curtain down on a famous win with England’s bonus-point try. his left hand. Fleet-of-foot Kinghorn showed nice skills to complete his hat-trick following sterling work from Jamie Ritchie.
Harris added his name to the scoresheet before Italy’s late rally but by then the game was way beyond them.