Italy must be starting to wonder what they need to do to beat Scotland. They played most of the better rugby and were leading with less than two minutes to go but, just as they have done before against the Scots, surrendered a late kick. Greig Laidlaw’s penalty cost the Italians the game this time.
Afterwards the Italy coach, Conor O’Shea, said it was a game there for the taking: “I am destroyed for the players and the supporters. We are coming. Boy we played some rugby out there against a team who have beaten Australia, beaten England.
“At times we made some great breaks and you would say that is great play. The only way for some young players to learn is by being out there. Time at the crease, you could say.”
It was not a view seriously disputed by his opposite number, Gregor Townsend, who admitted he had been annoyed by the first-half performance, though he could find positives in the way Scotland came back to win. “We were disappointed in parts, particularly the first half,” he said. “It was great to pick up an away win, though. Great to pick up three wins [in the tournament]. This game will be as valuable as the win against England in terms of the experience this group has and being able to beat teams when not playing your best.
“They controlled most of the possession, were very strong with the ball carries, narrowed up our defence. We didn’t have as much possession as we had against Ireland, sometimes down to our errors but also Italy playing well.
“The second half showed that we are capable of reaction; finding out what was working for us, which was the maul, and finishing those opportunities.”
Scotland had gone behind early on to a penalty from man of the match Tommaso Allan. After which, in one of their rare solid spells of possession in the first half, Scotland briefly took the lead through hooker Fraser Brown.
Then came two hammer blows, Allan and Matteo Minozzi, the full back, both exploiting gaps in the Scotland defence to put the home side 12 points ahead. For a long time, it looked as though that would be enough.Scotland did collect their second try with the captain, John Barclay, touching down at the back of a maul, but when Allan collected his second score at the end of a break from the debutant flanker, Jake Polledri, it all looked grim for the visitors.
They had learned their lesson though. The maul was working so it was to become their weapon of choice. It did not earn any tries directly but did get them into attacking positions and suck in the defence for Sean Maitland to collect his third try of the tournament and Stuart Hogg his first.
That might have settled things but Allan had other ideas with a late penalty putting Italy ahead in the dying minutes. That only left time for the final drama with Scotland again turning to the maul and finding their way deep into Italy territory where it was their turn to win a penalty. Laidlaw has been in this position so often before; there was never much doubt that he would land it and, to the relief of the Scotland fans and the player himself, he did. Another rescue act in another drama.