Scotland suffer record defeat against Italy

U20 SIX NATIONS

SCOTLAND 3

ITALY 43

This match started badly for the young Scots and went downhill from there.

It ended with a record defeat – this team’s previous biggest loss against the Azzurri was by 19 points back in 2014 – and head coach Sean Lineen now has a job on his hands trying to juggle the need to boost the morale of an inexperienced squad with forcing the players to face some hard truths.

“We were up against an Italian team which we knew we needed to respect, and we just gifted them some very easy tries which gave them momentum,” he reflected. “Then we backed off and the one thing you can’t do against the Italians is back off. There will be some soul searching, and the boys will be disappointed, so we just need to make sure as a coaching team and a support staff that we are there for them – but also make it clear that we all need to get better.”

Scotland need to be back on the horse by next Wednesday when they will face a mammoth challenge if they are to manage a first win in their round four match against France.

“The players are tired having not had very much rugby in the last 15 months, and it is a young group, so we need to give them a chance to recover mentally as well as physically,” added Lineen. “But we also know that we have to prepare properly against France, who we have never beaten at Under-20s level.”

Scotland’s only points in Cardiff came through a first half Cameron Scott penalty, while Italy’s tries came from Flavio Pio Vaccar, Lorenzo Pani, Ion Neculai, Luca Andreani, Manfredi Albanese and Mirco Spagnolo.