Italy go on a second-half rampage to floor Scots
ITALY scored 40 unanswered points to confirm their rising status in Six Nations U20 rugby by following up their away win over France two weeks ago with a huge victory over a Scotland side that had no answer to their forward power after the interval.
Piero Gritti, Nicholas Gasperini (2), Mirko Belloni, Marco Scalabrin and Patrick De Villiers all scored tries after the break as the Azzurrini made it four wins in a row against Scotland at U20 level.
The result also marked the fourth defeat in a row for the Scots in this year’s championship.
Scotland U20 head coach Kenny Murray said. “It was the opposite to France and England. We got ourselves into a good lead but then had a really disappointing second half.
“There was too much soft rugby from us in the second half, and that made it easy for them to win the game. Yes they’re a big team, but we set ourselves standards, irrespective of who we play. If teams are good enough to score tries, then fine. But we’ve got to be tough on ourselves.”
The hosts scored the first try of the match when Gritti muscled over under the posts after a spell of pressure. Scotland levelled 10 minutes later when McVie charged down a boxkick from scrum-half Mattia Jimenez inside the five-metre line and reached first to pounce on the loose ball.
Scotland took the lead mid-way through the half as Findlay Thomson made a brilliant linebreak from midfield, and then found Watson on the wing.
Gritti scored his second try on 50 minutes when he spotted a gap from the base of the ruck and went through unchallenged to score.
That gave Italy momentum as Gasperini managed to ground the ball from a metre out after a series of phases near the Scotland line. He mirrored that score moments later to secure the bonus point.
Italy added a fifth try – and fourth in 12 minutes – shortly after as Belloni split two defenders and slid over. They scored two more before the end, as replacement scrumhalf Lorenzo Casilio, just 10 metres out, sent a high kick towards the corner for Scalabrin to leap high, catch and score.
De Villiers then added a final score as a tired Scotland could do little to stop the hosts from turning a scrum in midfield into a try after Luke Coulston was sent to the sin bin for repeated Scottish infringements.