Second victory on the road a step too far as Italy show improvement

● Conditions didn’t help Scottish cause

Scotland were unable to record a second consecutive away win in the Six Nations Championship yesterday in Padua, but emerged with considerable credit from a game which took place in horrendously muddy conditions.

The omens were not good when Italy scored two quick tries in the first half and wrapped up the bonus point early in the second, but scores by Lana Skeldon and Eilidh Sinclair made the final result a truer reflection of the game.

The defeat means that Scotland are fifth in the final table, ahead of Wales on points differential thanks to their win in Dublin a week earlier. Italy, who beat the Welsh in the previous round, are fourth.

The pitch looked threadbare to start with, and once heavy rain took a hold, the surface quickly deteriorated. A drier surface would have been more conducive to the counter-attacking game in which the likes of Chloe Rollie are so dangerous, but by the same token Italy might also have found more space.

Certainly, Scotland coach Shade Munro accepted that the better team had won. “Italy were just the better team today,” he said. “They executed their tries very well and took advantage of the good ball they got in the first half from the setpiece. We made it easier for them by standing off a wee bit.

“There’s a lesson to learn here for us: you don’t wait to see what they’re bringing, you stop them bringing it to you, which is what happened in the second half. Maybe conditions dictated it, and it was a bit easier to do, but the same mentality shown in the second half has to be applied always.”

Italy took the lead after less than three minutes through a Melissa Bettoni try converted by Michela Sillari as Scotland appeared to have been caught cold, and when Sofia Stefan got their second there were still fewer than ten minutes played. Hannah Smith was prominent in attack as the visitors began to put their game together, but Italy stretched their lead when Giada Franco finished off a slaloming run by full-back Manuela Furlan.

Another conversion by Sillari made it 19-0 at half-time, and it got worse for Scotland two minutes after the break when Beatrice Rigoni scored the bonus-point try, again converted by the centre. Nevertheless, Scotland got the reward for their hard work with two tries in five minutes, first through Skeldon – who muscled her way through the defence with an astute pick-and-go – and then by substitute Sinclair, pictured, who slid over from a couple of metres out after good work by the pack.

Skeldon converted the second try after Sarah Law picked up an injury when unsuccessfully attempting the first conversion.

Italy were able to shore up their defence after conceding those two scores, and Munro acknowledged the progress they have made during this campaign as something his squad must learn from, while also insisting his players have improved over the five games.

“We have never given up,” the coach added. “The willingness to improve, to become better players, to evolve as a team are there. There’s lots of rewards we can take from this Six Nations besides only winning one game. Italy have been better and we need to emulate teams like them.”