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Laidlaw breaks Italian hearts in Rome
Italy missed a glorious chance to end a three-year wait for a Six Nations win as Greig Laidlaw’s late penalty secured Scotland a hard-fought 29-27 triumph in Rome.
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Tommaso Allan – who had represented Scotland at junior level – scored 22 points, including two tries, as the Azzurri looked set to end a 16-match losing run in the tournament.
However, having led 24-12 early in the second half at the Stadio Olimpico, the hosts faded badly down the stretch to suffer yet more disappointment.
Scotland capitalised on Italy’s tiredness, tries from Sean Maitland and Stuart Hogg, both converted by Laidlaw, putting them 26-24 ahead as the game moved towards a climax.
Allan slotted over a penalty to briefly put Italy back ahead, only for Laidlaw to respond with a successful kick of his own in the 79th minute that finally settled a see-saw contest in Scotland’s favour.
What. A. Finish! Hats off to both teams for an enthralling encounter in Rome#NatWest6Nations | #ITAvSCO | #SuperSaturday pic.twitter.com/SEIzZzbKYJ
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 17, 2018
The win means Gregor Townsend’s squad finish the campaign with three victories and two defeats, as they did in 2017.
After Allan kicked Italy ahead with a seventh-minute penalty, hooker Fraser Brown had the simple task of picking up Hamish Watson’s long pass and falling over the line for Scotland’s opening try.
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However, Italy responded to the setback by scoring 14 points in the space of seven minutes.
Allan beautifully stepped off his right foot to reach the line himself before setting up Matteo Minozzi with a clever grubber kick that the full-back gleefully gathered under pressure.
Scotland’s riposte was prompt and powerful. Benefiting from a rolling maul, captain John Barclay plunged over for a try that Laidlaw successfully converted, making it 17-12 at the break.
Despite seeing a try from Sebastian Negri ruled out for a knock-on, Italy extended their advantage when Jake Polledri’s powerful run set up a second score for Allan, who also added the extras to make it a 12-point cushion.
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Yet the clock, as well as a back-line reshuffle, worked against Italy, as they succumbed in the closing stages to suffer a fourth Six Nations whitewash in the last five years.
Switched to fly-half after Finn Russell was forced off through injury, Laidlaw provided the pass for Maitland to glide over before Hogg left Negri grasping at thin air to get the bonus-point try.
Allan’s boot briefly gave the home fans renewed hope, only for Laidlaw to hold his nerve from a tight angle, his successful kick completing the comeback and condemning Italy captain Sergio Parisse to a 100th Test defeat.
SCOTLAND WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I need a defibrillator.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 17, 2018
Key Opta Stats:
– This was just the third win for Scotland in their last 20 Six Nations games away from home, all three of those victories coming in Rome.
– Italy have now lost their last 17 games in the Championship, the joint longest such run in Five/Six Nations history, level with France who lost 17 from 1911 to 1920.
– Parisse won his 65th cap, drawing level with Brian O’Driscoll as the most capped player in Five/Six Nations history. However, he also became the first player in history to lose 100 Test matches.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments