Scotland 29-21 Italy: Hosts earn first Women's Six Nations victory
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Women's Six Nations: Scotland withstand Italy fightback to secure first victory
Women's Six Nations: Scotland v Italy |
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Scotland: (10) 29 |
Tries: McMillan, Skeldon 2, Bartlett 2 Cons: Nelson 2 |
Italy: (7) 21 |
Tries: Franco, Tounesi, Vecchini; Cons: Sillari 3 |
Scotland withstood an Italy fightback to secure their first victory of this season's Women's Six Nations and end a 12-match losing run.
Louise McMillan and Lana Skeldon gave the Scots a 10-7 half-time lead.
They extended that to 24-7 with a Leah Bartlett double, but the visitors responded through Sara Tounesi and Viottoria Vecchini.
Skeldon's second try ensured the Scots saw out a first win since beating Colombia last February.
After heavy losses to England and France either side of a home defeat by Wales, the Scots were targeting these final two matches against Italy and Ireland on home soil to finally end this wretched run of defeats.
They made the perfect start, a series of purposeful carries taking them into the red zone, and when McMillan got a sniff off the line she powered over for the opening try.
After back-to-back defeats by England and France to open the campaign, the Italians were looking to build on their victory over Ireland last time out.
The side ranked number five in the world were looking distinctly ordinary in the opening quarter, though, with only a couple of monstrous hits from back row Tounesi catching the eye amidst a litany of errors from the visitors.
The Italians looked set to level things up when Alyssa d'Inca exploited a mix-up in the Scottish back line to hack ahead, but as the wing went to gather the ball to touch down she spilled it over the line.
A horror moment for D'Inca but if the Scots thought they were off the hook they were mistaken as moments later Giada Franco blasted over from close range and Michela Sillari's conversion nudged the Italians in front.
The Scottish response was impressive. After one rolling line-out maul was brought down illegally, with Italy lock Giordana Duca seeing yellow for her role, the next attempt would not be stopped and Skeldon touched down to ensure Scotland led by three at the break.
Dogged Scots repel Italian fightback
That was a huge psychological boost for a team who have waited so long to taste victory, and things got better early in the second half.
Lisa Thomson cut a nice line to take Scotland to the brink of the Italy line and Bartlett did the honours from a metre out to stretch the Scots' advantage to 10 points.
The Italians were wilting and Scotland, sensing their moment, sent another rolling line-out maul rumbling over the line for Bartlett to dot down again.
Nelson, winning her 50th cap, banged over the conversion to make it 24-7. Surely Scotland could see it out from here, right?
The Italians were not done yet and Tounesi powered and wriggled her way over the line to set up a nervy final quarter.
Chloe Rollie was forced into a crucial last-ditch tackle with Isabella Locatelli bearing down on the line as the visitors started to crank up the pressure and you sensed the next score would be vital.
It came for Italy on the hour to blow the game wide open. Full-back Vittoria Minuzzi slalomed through a static Scottish defence to break free and she found Vecchini on her shoulder to go in under the posts.
This was now, at 24-21, a serious test of Scotland's mettle.
Italy's momentum was checked by a red card for substitute Sara Seye for a high shot on Jade Konkel-Roberts, and Scotland reverted to the tried and tested to get the job done, Skeldon finishing off another perfectly executed rolling maul.
The Scots have had their share of heartache late in matches in recent times, but on this occasion they held firm for the victory they have been craving for the longest time.
Line-ups
Scotland: C Rollie, C Grant, L Thomson, M Smith, F McGhie, H Nelson, M McDonald; L Bartlett, L Skeldon, C Belisle, J Konkel-Roberts, L McMillan, R Malcolm (capt), R McLachlan, E Gallacher.
Replacements: J Rettie, A Young, E Clarke, E Donaldson, E Sinclair, C Mattinson, B Blacklock, L Musgrove.
Italy: V Ostuni Minuzzi; A Muzzo, M Sillari, B Rigoni, A D'Inca, V Madia, S Stefan; G Maris, V Vecchini, L Gai, V Fedrighi, G Duca, S Tounesi, I Locatelli, G Franco.
Replacements: E Stecca, A Cassaghi, S Seye, L Gurioli, A Ranuccini, S Barattin, E Stevanin, F Granzotto