PHEW! GRAZIE GREIG
Last-minute Laidlaw kick saves the day to complete the Italian job
SCOTLAND provided a dramatic and fitting finale to a rollercoaster Six Nations campaign by edging an incredibly up-and-down match in the dying stages.
A late Stuart Hogg try and penalty from Greig Laidlaw with just over a minute of the game remaining pulled a third victory from the jaws of defeat. It equalled Scotland’s best tally in the championship and, ultimately, ensured another third-place finish.
And if Gregor Townsend wanted an indication of the resilience in his squad, this was a win founded on never-say-die grit as Scotland came from behind three times, defying sluggish performances from several players, to set the Saltires flying around the Stadio Olimpico.
It was tough on Italy, who are playing an ever more dangerous brand of rugby under coaches Conor O’Shea and Mike Catt. Here, it yielded three tries for Tommaso Allan (2) and Matteo Minozzi, and almost two more, but their skipper Sergio Parisse was fuming afterwards at a couple of refereeing decisions that he felt denied his side a potential 31-12 lead.
The Scots had been buoyed by passing en route to the stadium over 5,000 supporters marching with Doddie Weir and Rob Wainwright on ‘Doddie’s Gump’ from the city centre, an event raising money for Motor Neurone Disease research. But, after waving the event through the streets, the Italians quickly gained the upper hand in the Olimpico with their former Scotland Under-20 fly-half Allan rewarding a bright start with a penalty six minutes in.
With Scotland’s first period in possession, however, they scored the game’s opening try. Building from deep, they varied the attack well with forwards and backs until Tommy Seymour broke through on the left. He was finally caught, and Finn Russell waltzed a path towards the post.
He was held just short but, from the ruck, flanker Hamish Watson had great presence of mind to fire a bouncing pass wide to Fraser Brown, and the hooker had an easy job to finish off his second Test try with no Italian defenders left.
If they thought it was going to be plain sailing from that point, however, Scottish supporters were made to think again.
Italy scored off a concerted period of possession from the restart, the hosts making good ground with forward drives and Allan fooling Huw Jones with a dummy to race over from ten metres out.
It got better for the Azzurri ten minutes later when, after Russell over-cooked a pass-kick into touch, the hosts again attacked with aggression and accuracy to the Scots’ 22. When Allan slipped a grubber kick through Scotland’s defence, electric full-back Minozzi beat Watson to the ball to score Italy’s second try. Allan’s second conversion had Italy 17-5 in front with just 20 minutes played.
Scotland’s scrum, with WP Nel and Brown restored after injury, had the measure of the Italians and the lineouts were fairly strong, but the statistic of 61 carries by Italy to 16 from Scotland — the tackle counts went the other way — told the story of the first-quarter possession. The home side then duly stole their first Scotland lineout, only for Scotland to reclaim it in the ruck — illegally from Italy skipper Parisse’s viewpoint.
They won a penalty at the next ruck which Hogg drilled to touch near the home line and the pack made light work of the maul for Scots captain John Barclay to touch down after 25 minutes.
Scotland began to turn the screw in the home half, but the strength and skill of Italian tackling — tighthead prop Simone
Ferrari made a potential try-saving tackle on Nick Grigg as the centre broke through a gap — was impressive.
Sean Maitland could not hold a pass fired from close range, and a series of forward drives were superbly repelled by Italians throwing their bodies on the line, and Alessandro Zanni and Jake Polledri winning a massive ruck penalty on the home line.
The Scots finished the half flexing their defensive muscle as Italy surged into the visitors’ 22 in a frenetic finale, roared on by the Stadio Olimpico fans, and stood their ground well. But it may have come at a cost as the whole front row was changed at the break, an injured Brown replaced by Stuart McInally, with props Jamie Bhatti and Zander Fagerson providing fresh legs.
But Italy again started brighter and ripped Scotland open three times. Had they finished each move, the game could have been over.
On the first and third occasions they were denied scores only by knock-ons, the first confirmed by the Television Match Official after Dean Budd dived over, but when Ryan Wilson let Polledri evade a tackle on the second instance the flanker drew the cover and sent Allan racing away for a definite try.
Townsend turned to his bench again, sending on Richie Gray for Tim Swinson and Peter Horne for Jones, and was forced to reshape the back line with Russell forced off with a head injury.
Ali Price took over at scrum-half and Laidlaw moved to stand-off, and the veteran was soon in the thick of it when, with the Italians denying two lineout drives, he superbly found Maitland with a long pass for the wing to dive over. Laidlaw was having to think on his feet to get himself into stand-off positions as Scotland struggled for incision in their attack, but when David Denton replaced the battered Wilson, the visitors returned to basics to carve out a winning position.
The pack drove a lineout from the 22 to close in, and when Laidlaw found Hogg steaming into the line there was an inevitability about Scotland’s fourth try.
Laidlaw converted to edge Scotland 26-24 ahead with eight minutes to go, only for Jonny Gray to be penalised for not rolling away at the next ruck, and Allan, fast becoming the hammer of his old nation, converting a 40-metre penalty to tip Italy back in front.
Scotland returned to the lineout maul and won a penalty with two minutes left, Laidlaw bringing smiles back to the Scottish contingent with a fine kick from wide right inside the left post.
The relief in the Scots camp was clear when Italy lost possession from the restart and Price hoofed the ball out — albeit off an Italian defender — for a fitting moment of panic as Scotland’s see-saw campaign came to a timely halt.