Townsend tenure off to a flier as Italy self-destruct
SCOTLAND opened their summer tour in style with a dominant performance over Italy in Singapore.
Tries from Ali Price, Tim Visser, Damian Hoyland and a double from Ross Ford were enough to hand Gregor Townsend a dream start to his time as Scotland’s new head coach.
Scotland captain, John Barclay was pleased with his side’s display, especially in the 30 degree heat.
He said: “It was extremely tough conditions, very humid and tiring, but we managed it well. We scored some good tries, let in a few we’d like back, but it was a good performance overall.
“Next week against Australia will be a completely different contest, we’ll need to look after the ball better.”
There was little to separate the two sides in the opening forty after Russell and Tomasso Allan had exchanged a pair of early penalties.
Heading into the final three minutes, with the score still locked at 3-3, scrum-half Price found space on the blindside of an attacking ruck inside Italy’s five-meter line to score the game’s opening try.
Two minutes later, back inside Italy’s 22, Visser plucked a Russell throughball from the air before crashing over from try number two. Duncan Taylor added the conversion to give the Scots a 15-3 halftime advantage.
The second half was oneway traffic from the off. Ford crashed over from an attacking lineout before the hooker doubled his tally, after Italy had gone down to 14-men following Dean Budd’s professional foul, with a thunderous run from midfield. Russell added one conversion.
Michele Campanaro dotted down in reply for Italy but winger Hoyland, taking advantage of another yellow card this time to Braam Steyn for a late tackle, settled the game with a try in the corner seven minutes from time.
Angelo Esposito grabbed a consolation for Italy in the final seconds.
Italy head coach, Connor O’Shea said: “Our indiscipline was the key, it’s not possible to be competitive internationally by giving away fifteen penalties and two yellow cards.”