Scotland 17 Italy 37: Seven months away from the World Cup Scotland are in turmoil.
Tactical muddle, matching confusion over the futures of key players, handed Italy their first away win in the Six Nations, with three gift-wrapped tries in the opening six minutes.
A charged-down kick within 20 seconds and two intercepted passes in two minutes is not quite the worst start to a Test match - seven years ago in Sydney the All Blacks scored three tries in five minutes - but the magnitude of Scotland's generosity was underlined when the captain, Chris Paterson, and the man at the centre of all three tries, Chris Cusiter, admitted two had come from called moves they had rehearsed in training.
Their head coach, Frank Hadden, revealed the muddle resulted from his plans to disrupt Italy's blitz defence. "I wanted a fast tempo at the start to get the crowd on the edge of their seats and start the game in a way which would make the game difficult for their rushing defence," he said. "You have to chip, you have to slow down the rushing defence."
But, as Hadden added, "Sadly the execution went absolutely pear-shaped."
Phil Godman's attempted chip from in front of the Scotland posts - when a 50-yard hoof downfield was required - hit Mauro Bergamasco's hands; Cusiter's short pass for Rob Dewey found Andrea Scanavacca; and the scrumhalf's long pass, intended for Hugo Southwell, floated into the arms of Kaine Robertson.
Twenty-one points up after six minutes, Italy came close to losing the plot themselves. Even Alessandro Troncon, who has won 93 caps while learning how Italy play, opted for the kind of adventure normally eschewed by the Azzurri.
By loosening their grip up front they allowed Hadden's men back into the game. Dewey, aided by a bit of shepherding from the referee Donal Courtney, burst through a couple of tacklers to open Scotland's scoring in the 16th minute, and Paterson reduced the lead to seven points with a try and conversion with 15 minutes to go.
By then he had moved from the wing, where he seems remote from the decision-making, to outhalf, replacing Godman. Scotland have few options at outhalf and Paterson seems more suited than most, accelerating in from one of the planned moves that did work.
However, that was when Troncon and his captain, Marco Bortolami, called a halt to the frivolity and put the pack back to work. They ground out two penalties to take Scanavacca's tally to 22, then heaved Troncon over.
As their coach, Pierre Berbizier, who had never won at Murrayfield in a decade playing with France, said: "For the fans and the players this was a dream. Now it is a reality. We will have to wait and see what this does for Italian rugby but today it was an important step."
SCOTLAND: Southwell (Edinburgh); Lamont (Northampton), Di Rollo (Edinburgh), Dewey (Edinburgh; Henderson, Glasgow, 76), Paterson (capt, Edinburgh); Godman (Edinburgh; Walker, Ospreys 58), Cusiter (Borders; Lawson, Gloucester, 66); Kerr (Borders; Jacobsen, Edinburgh, 49), Hall (Edinburgh; Ford, Borders, 58), E Murray (Glasgow), Hines (Perpignan), S Murray (Edinburgh; Hamilton, Leicester, 73), Taylor (Edinburgh), Brown (Borders), Callam (Edinburgh; Hogg, Edinburgh, 49). Tries: Dewey, Paterson. Cons: Paterson 2. Pen: Paterson. Sinbin: Taylor, 19.
ITALY: De Marigny (Calvisano); Robertson (Viadana), Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamaso (Stade Français), Masi (Biarritz; Zaffiri, Calvisano, 32); Scanavacca (Calvisano; Pez, Bayonne, 79), Troncon (Clermont Auvergne); Lo Cicero (L'Aquila; Perugini; Toulouse, 58), Festuccia (Parma; Ongaro, Saracens, 58), Castrogiovanni (Leicester; Nieto, Gloucester, 18), Dellape (Biarritz; Bernabo, Calvisano, 63), Bortolami (capt, Gloucester), Zanni (Calvisano), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), Parisse (Stade Français). Tries: Mauro Bergamasco, Scanavacca, Robertson, Troncon. Cons: Scanavacca 4. Pens: Scanavacca 3.
Referee: D Courtney(Ireland).
