U20s 6N: Scotland v Italy: positives evident for hosts despite comprehensive opening weekend defeat
01/31/2025 05:54 PM
Scotland 10
Italy 22
ALAN LORIMER @ Hive Stadium
AFTER the 'high' of winning the World Under-20 Trophy in Edinburgh last summer, Scotland were delivered a dose of reality by an Italy side that had power up front as well as pace and more than a touch of panache from their slick running backs, setting the stage for a comfortable victory in their opening Six Nations match at Hive Stadium.
Yet, despite Italy being well worth their win and frankly looking like a side able to compete in this championship, the Azzurrinis' try advantage was a mere three-two and indeed Scotland came very close to snatching a third score with a close range attack towards the end of the match.
But overall, Scotland came second best in crucial areas of the game as head coach Kenny Murray admitted after the match, saying: "I think the big themes in the game were we weren’t clinical enough and our speed to contact. They jackaled pretty hard, pretty aggressively and we were just a wee bit slow to get to contact, which was the biggest learnings in the game really for me".
Read TOL's team-by-team previews here:
6N countdown: TOL's Team-by-Team Guide Part 5 – Ireland … according to 'the veteran journalist'
6N Countdown: TOL's Team-By-Team Guide Part 4 – Italy … according to 'the exiled coach'
6N Countdown: TOL's Team-By-Team Guide Part 3 – Scotland … according to 'the club stalwart'
6N Countdown: TOL's Team-By-Team Guide Part 2 – Wales … according to 'the super-fan'
6N countdown: TOL's Team-by-Team Guide Part 1 – France … according to 'the ex-pro turned top pundit'
Murray also highlighted how his side let slip any grip they had on the game at the beginning of the second half. "I thought we allowed them to get back into the game in the first 10 minutes after half-time and I think they just lived off that, to be honest," he suggested.
But given this was a relatively young Scots' side playing against an Italy team that contained 13 of the squad that played in last summer's World Under-20 Championship in South Africa when they finished 10th, there were genuine positives to be taken from the Scotland performance.
In particular, Murray lauded the efforts of his pack in the set-piece. "We had five under-19s in it, but that’s the first time I’ve seen the Scotland under-20 scrum dominate an Italian under-20 scrum. In the last two years, if I’ve been honest, we’ve struggled a lot against Italy’s scrum and then tonight, we’ve got Ollie McKenna, who’s a converted back-row to hooker to now loose-head prop. I thought he was outstanding in the scrum tonight. I think we definitely take a lot of heart from that.
"Now we’ve got a set piece that we can actually get a platform from and build on, but we’ve just got to be more clinical in our contact area. It needs to be better. They [Scotland] came close to a losing bonus point at the end, although you could say that they should be more clinical and have scored a bonus-point try themselves.”
It was Italy who had the pressure in the opening phases but a combination of strong Scottish defence, particularly in the nine and 10 channels, and at the maul, together with ill-discipline from the visitors, kept the scoreboard at 0-0.
Then, from a couple of successive penalties, Scotland attacked from a five-metre line-out and after several power drives close to the line the home side achieved the first score of the game, an unconverted try by the Ulster-based flanker, Billy Allen.
The young Scots came close to increasing their lead after another attack from a line-out, this time deploying the defence-denting strengths of Kerr Yule, Reuben Logan and McKenna, but when Scotland turned over ball the Italians had been handed a reprieve.
Scotland then sampled a similar escape after thwarting an Italian maul by burrowing low as the visitors tried to ground the ball. But having saved their skin, the Scots then gave away a cheap try after trying to attack from slow scrum ball, leading to an interception by Federico Zanadrea, who latched on to Johnny Ventisei's attempted pass to Fergus Watson for a try under the posts, easily converted by Roberto Fasti, the final score of the first half.
Italy, now confident from their play in the second quarter, forced Scotland to defend ferociously at the beginning of the second half, after the home side made crucial errors, first from a poor handling move along the back-line and then from an overthrown line-out.
Scotland looked to have recovered their composure with a kick to the corner but after a dazzling run out of defence by Jules Ducros, who stepped round Scots wing Guy Rogers, and then support by Antony Miranda, scrum-half Niccolo Benni was able to canter in for Italy's second try.
Fasti missed the conversion and minutes later was just wide with a penalty attempt from the Scotland 10 metre line. Italy, however, looked menacing when they staged a siege on the Scotland line and should have scored when they moved the ball wide, only to be thwarted by a timely touchline tackle from replacement scrum-half Hector Patterson.
Sensing that Scotland's resistance was weakening, Italy again put pressure on the home side with another encampment on their opponents' line. This time, when the ball was released, Northampton Saints Academy centre, Eduardo Todaro, ran a clever line to touch down under the posts, leaving Fasti with the simplest of conversion kicks for a 19-5 lead.
Fortunately for home morale, the Scots were able to hit back with a second try, triggered by a surge round the front of a penalty-created line-out from Rueben Logan, and, several thrusts later, finished by replacement back-row Oliver Duncan, the conversion attempt by Matthew Urwin rebounding off the post.
Italy quickly reasserted themselves and it took some brave tackling wide out to prevent a fourth try. As it was, Italy did garner more points, a penalty by Fasti to make victory certain.
Scotland had a chance to claim a losing bonus point with a late surge near the Italy try line, but it came to nought leaving the young Scots knowing there is much to do before Ireland arrive next weekend looking to bounce back from their opening weekend defeat to England.
Teams –
Scotland: J Brown; G Rogers, J Ventisei, K Yule, F Watson (N Moncrieff 64); M Urwin (R Wolfenden 76), N Cowan (H Patterson 49); O McKenna (J Shearer 58), J Roberts (S Stephen 63), O Blyth-Lafferty (R Whitefield 78y), C Moss (B Godsell 49), D Halkon, C Lindsay (O Duncan 49), B Allen, R Logan.
Italy: G Pietramala (P Celi 49); J Ducros, F Zanandrea, E Todaro, M Faissal; R Fasti, N Beni (M Belotti 65); S Pelliccioli (N Bolognini 68), A Caiolo-Serra (G Casiraghi 68 ), B Vallesi (G Casiraghi 68), T Redondi, E Opoku Gymafi (P Melegari 50), A Miranda, N Castartelli (Carlo Antonio Bianchi 63), G Milano.
Referee: Sarah Cox (RFU)
Scorers –
Scotland: Tries: Allen, Duncan
Italy: Tries Zanandrea, Beni, Todaro; Cons: Fasti 2; Pen: Fasti.
Scoring Sequence (Scotland first): 5-0; 5-5; 5-7 (h-t) 5-12; 5-17; 5-19; 10-19; 10-22.
Man-of-the-Match: Italian centre Eduardo Todaro was a classy performer against Scotland, showing quick footwork, accuracy in passing and always a threat with ball in hand.
Talking point: The depressing record of defeats in the 6Ns u20 Championship continues and one wonders what can be done to arrest this morale-lowering run. Questions should be asked of a system that perhaps leaves players short of match practice and which tends to ignore teenage players who perform well in the Arnold Clark Premiership.
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