Scotland get off to winning start in Six Nations despite lacklustre finale

Scotland 33 Italy 20

Scotland’s bonus-point victory looked like being neatly packaged, resplendent in content and appearance until Simon Berghan’s yellow card. What transpired was a mental aberration that quickly became a physical issue as Gregor Townsend’s side conceded three tries.

The Scots shuffled slightly in embarrassment at the final whistle, having allowed Italy a therapeutic finale to a game that initially looked like being a rout. Once both sides acclimatised following a kicking duel in the first 10 minutes, Scotland set about warming the hands and hearts of their supporters, facilitated to a significant degree by Italian inaccuracies.

The home side’s first try came in relatively innocuous circumstances, a counter-ruck that tuned over what should have been Italian possession into a Scottish opportunity.

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Greig Laidlaw snaffled possession and his halfback partner Finn Russell's cross-kick was wonderfully precise, teeing up Blair Kinghorn for the first of his hat-trick of tries, the first by a Scot in the Six Nations, matching the feat of another Scottish wing Iwan Tukalo – against Ireland at Murrayfield in 1989 – in a previous incarnation of the tournament.

Creative force

It was apposite that Russell was the creative force behind the try because it was a role that sat easily on his shoulders for the afternoon. Ulster demonstrated in the Champions Cup that the in-form Racing 92 playmaker can be harried into error but under no real pressure from Italy he was at his imperious best.

Russell always had options and that allowed him to dip into his impressive repertoire, whether entrusting possession to his big, ball-carrying pack in the frontline as part of a softening up process or operating behind the screen of forwards. Italy never got to him, never applied any pressure and they paid a substantial tariff as a result.

When the Scottish outhalf is afforded time and space he possesses the talent to hurt teams and that’s exactly what he did to the Italians. Kinghorn’s second try once again had Russell at its epicentre, a “contra-flow” move from a scrum; Russell changed direction on to switch play against the grain and then worked on the wraparound to provide a telling incision.

Russell had an aide-de-comp in the creativity stakes in Stuart Hogg, the fullback chipping in with his 19th international try but also a kicking game that caused the Italians huge problems. Conor O’Shea’s charges did little to help themselves for 60 minutes; static and lateral in possession and orientation Italian faces bore all the animation of a captain’s run rather than a Test match.

There were imperfections in the Scottish performance before the lacklustre finale; their box-kicking lacked accuracy, the scrum proved a fractious contest and they were occasionally understaffed at rucks. Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was handed some areas that his team might exploit at Murrayfield next Saturday.

Torment

Russell and Hogg continued to torment the Italians, both luxuriating in a pressure-free pocket behind the front line, changing not alone the point of attack but switching between hard-carrying forwards and the more fleet-footed in behind. They also employed a varied kicking game, short and long, that caused the Italians huge problems.

The home side escaped to 33-3 on the scoreboard before Townsend decided to withdraw some of his prized assets on 57 minutes and at irregular intervals afterwards until the bench lay bare. It proved a watershed moment in the match, along with Berghan’s sabbatical, the Italians responded by helping themselves to 17 unanswered points.

The Scots went walkabouts mentally and physically, slipping off tackles in conceding three soft tries. A key for Ireland will be to get to Russell something that the Italians couldn’t manage, the outhalf hidden in plain sight and allowed to do as he pleased. If Ireland afford him the same courtesy the Parisian-based pivot could make it a long afternoon next Saturday for the visitors.