Poor Scotland end wait for win in World Cup warm-up with Italy
Last Updated: 22/08/15 11:27pm
Scotland ended their eight-month wait for a win with an unconvincing 16-12 victory over Italy in Turin on Saturday.
Substitute scrum-half Henry Pyrgos's try five minutes from the end of the World Cup warm-up clash at the Olympic Stadium was enough to end a run that had seen Scotland lose every match they had played this year.
But with just nine days until Vern Cotter names his squad for England 2015, the Scotland coach will be concerned by a lacklustre performance in which only adopted Scot John Hardie, and substitutes Peter Horne and Pyrgos impressed.
Rory Hughes, Stuart McInally, Damien Hoyland and Willem Nel joined New Zealand-born Hardie in earning their first caps in the game, as Cotter was forced to make late changes before kick-off with captain Grant Gilchrist ruled out with a sickness bug.
Al Strokosch took the armband while Jim Hamilton moved up from the bench to start.
But the Scots did make a fast start as Duncan Weir slotted over two penalties inside the first 12 minutes.
The hosts responded with a series of powerful drives from their heavyweight pack, halted only by some last-gasp scrambling from the Scots.
Azzurri kicker Gonzalo Garcia put the hosts on the board before Weir's third successful attempt after 19 minutes.
Former Scotland Under-19 cap Tommy Allan, now representing his mother's country, reduced the deficit with a penalty as Italy's pack continued to cause problems for the Scots, who did well to contain the threat.
And the visitors' resolve stayed strong in the final seconds of the first-half as Italy's forwards tried to bulldoze through their defence. A succession of rucks followed, but Italy had to settle for another Allan kick just before the break.
But the Azzurri picked-up from where they left off after the interval, and talismanic flanker Martin Castrogiovanni came within an inch of scoring as he was held up by more desperate defending.
Weir then squandered an opportunity to relieve some of the pressure on the Scots by sending a penalty wide, allowing Allan to edge Italy in front for the first time with a penalty of his own.
Scotland came close to retaking the leader when Horne burst through the Italian's defence, but he was without support from his team-mates before being dragged down by Luke McLean 10 metres from the line.
But the Italians were finally carved open minutes from the final whistle, as Horne and Matt Scott combined to find space on the right and Glasgow's Pyrgos was left free to collect a simple pass, and cross over for the decisive try, converted by Weir.
The Italians visit Murrayfield next week in a return friendly, when Kiwi Cotter will be hoping his side can build on their drought-ending win with a more impressive performance as they try to build some momentum ahead of their World Cup Pool B opener against Japan on September 23.
