Scotland produces brilliant backline moments to subdue Italy in Six Nations
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Moments of brilliance by a backline shorn of its best player spared Scotland from a second straight humbling by Italy in Six Nations rugby on Saturday.
Scotland won 31-19 at Murrayfield thanks to two tries by center Huw Jones after Italy rallied to tie the score at 19-19 going into the last quarter.
Right wing Darcy Graham conjured a break from nowhere in the 61st minute for Jones to score the tiebreaker. Then replacement center Tom Jordan’s huge miss-out pass unleashed Jones again in the 66th to bash through three defenders for the clincher.
Jones’ first test hat trick was a mild surprise considering he was without his regular midfield partner Sione Tuipulotu, the captain and form back who was out of the tournament after damaging a pectoral muscle last month.
Without Tuipulotu’s sharp edge, Scotland’s forwards carried more in a narrow attack while the backline struggled to flow. Scotland’s bogey team Ireland will be a much bigger hurdle next weekend at Murrayfield.
For a while, Tuipulotu wasn’t missed as Scotland blasted off to 14-0 inside nine minutes and 19-9 by halftime. Tries by Rory Darge, Jones and Ben White promised a party.
But Italy, which beat Scotland in Rome a year ago, stayed in touch thanks to four penalties in the 40-48-meter range by Tommaso Allan.
Then center Juan Ignacio Brex intercepted Scotland co-captain Finn Russell and bolted 60 meters to dive between the posts and tie the score and hush a stunned stadium.
But Scotland pulled out two more superlative moments from its backline to squeak home with a bonus point.
“A good enough team performance but we can be a lot better,” Russell said.
14-0 start
The game had barely started when a Scotland penalty in front of the posts was tapped and Darge drove through three defenders to touch down. Then Russell’s loop around gave an overlap to wing Duhan van der Merwe, who fed an unmarked Jones inside to score.
Italy finally touched the ball and worked hard but couldn’t get near the Scotland 22. Scotland conceded only four penalties in the first half and Allan slotted three of them to bring his team into the game.
The Scots found another purple patch in the middle of the half. A 13-phase attack died when Russell had the ball jolted from him by Lorenzo Cannone, but a lineout maul finished with Dave Cherry breaking off and backpassing for scrumhalf White to score in the right corner.
Scotland had three tries to nil but Italy was emboldened by the close score, and Allan nailed a fourth penalty to start the second half. Then Brex accepted Russell’s gift pass for the try and tying score.
It got tense in Murrayfield until Graham, appearing in his first Six Nations in three years, stepped three defenders inside his own half, suddenly found space, drew the last man and let Jones fly in.
“The carries I got influenced the game and some big moments off the back of that which I’m happy with,” Graham said. “Penalties kept them in the game, it was our mistakes, so it was just about sticking to our game plan and wait for somebody to bring that spark.”
Jones, for one, was grateful.
“It was a big turning point,” Jones said. “There wasn’t really anything on for him but Darcy will find a gap where there isn’t one. I just had to keep up with him.”
Italy go home to face Wales in a potential wooden spoon decider, while Scotland hope to confirm a title run when defending champion Ireland visit.
“I don’t want to say that our confidence is sky high,” Jones said. “We’re happy with the win today but our focus is on taking it week by week.”
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