Azzuri celebrations will act as spur, says Ashe

Adam Ashe wasn’t part of the Scotland team that lost to Italy in March but the celebrations of the Azzuri on the Murrayfield pitch that day still grates with him.

The 22-year-old back rower is set to start his bid for a RugbyWorld Cup place in Turin on Saturday against the Italians, knowing he has to impress after David Denton’s strong showing at No 8 against Ireland last week.

Ashe also has his Glasgow Warriors clubmate Josh Strauss coming through and eligible for his adopted country just a few days before the World Cup opener against Japan, but he’s looking for an extended run in the team and little revenge on the Italians.

“I was injured for the game in March but I watched the video back and what really struck me was the way they went mad afterwards,” he said.

“They were all jumping about on our pitch and that was obviously quite hurtful to see. It does give us that little spark to get right up for this game.

“After six defeats in a row this weekend is a game which we should be winning. We lost only narrowly in the Six Nations but I’m targeting this is a game we need to win.”

Although players including Denton “set the bar high” for those coming in this weekend, Ashe believes, he knows there’s plenty to work on.

“We did a big mauling session during training on Tuesday against Edinburgh which was fun,” he said of one area where the Scots struggled against Ireland.

“Italy will come hard at mauls, not only off line outs but in phase play as well they like to set them up when they can, so we need to make sure we get them on the ground early.

“The other message has been about starting well. Over in Ireland last week we had a bit of ball and seemed to lose it on occasion when we could build phases and get ourselves into the game.

“We need to start quickly rather than 40 or 50 minutes into it.”

For Ashe, he feels training camp could be the experience that is the making of him as an international player.

“This is the first full pre-season I’ve completed for two or three years. The season just past I was away in New Zealand and came back to have two weeks training before the start of the season.

“The season before that I was playing under-20s so didn’t have much of a pre-season, so I’m looking forward to putting injuries behind me and feeling the benefit out on the pitch.”

Meanwhile Glasgow Warriors have signed Fiji-born winger Junior Bulumakau from the British Army on a one-year contract. The 24-year-old, who has played for Heriot’s in the BT Premiership, has been training with the Warriors for two months.

SNS. Adam Ashe is targeting the Turin game as one Scotland need to win.