Scotland v Italy: Six Nations 2023 – live | Six Nations 2023
Key events
23 mins: Scratch that. It’s a Scottish penalty after TMO overturned the initial call as an Italian made an unarmed tackle which led to the Scottish attack. Scotland have the ball again on the Italian try line. Iachizzi goes for a HIA for Cannone. Scotland go around the corner again.
22 mins: Scotland wins the lineout but the maul doesn’t get yards. The ball moves across the field. Schoeman gives it to Gray. White darts for the line but short. They are so close after eight phases. Italy holding. Scotland loses and Italy can get away. A Scotsman is offside and Italy will have a penalty on their own try line. Huge defense of men in blue.
20 mins: The Scottish maul pulls him closer and Turner rushes the line. He is restrained. Fagerson walks away before he spreads left. Kinghorn closes in as he tries to squeeze between two tacklers in the corner but is sent off. Solid defense of Italy. This is Scotland’s ball.
18 mins: Scotland have a penalty after Italy pull out of play after that kick. Five meters further. Scotland take the corner. Oh, he cracked that. He should have been in the corner, but he’s about eight meters away.
17 mins: This time Italy kick deep and Kinghorn collects. Smith charges towards the line, as does Schoeman from close range. Scottish kick after three bunts is going nowhere. The white kick is held well by Garbisi as Scotland chases well. Brex recovers. Italy have him in their 22. They pass anyway until Allan hits straight to his own line.
Sadness! Scotland 5-6 Italy (Allan, 16)
This will annoy Gregor Townsend. After taking the lead with a brilliant try, they cough as Allan scores his penalty from the right.
15 mins: Italy receives a penalty as soon as the restart. Dempsey enters from the side (or was that clogged?) Either way, Italy have options about 30 yards down the right. They point to the posts.
TO TRY! Scotland 5-3 Italy (Van der Merwe, 13)
Sensational finish from the burly Scotsman. One of the best I’ve ever seen. He was born in the air and above the touchline as he rushed under firm pressure from Garbisi in the corner. How did he do that? ! A hand too. Just awesome. It was from a quick kick and go for Scotland from a penalty advantage and he collected a wild pass on the outside. It needed some finishing touches.
Kinghorn misses the difficult conversion.
Did Duhan score? He received the ball on the left sideline and dove into the corner. The call to the field is a test. They go upstairs.
13 mins: Gray in the middle and Scotland have the advantage of five penalties. Italy continue to hammer the ball carriers and the ball is knocked down, giving Scotland a chance to score three goals. They knock and leave…
11 minutes: Ritchie wins in front. The maul forms but goes nowhere. White brings it to van der Merwe under pressure. Watson sits up. Schoeman launches a dummy that fools no one. Dempsey jumps on the win line. Kinghorn plays an excellent ball to Jones who shovels it for van der Merwe to reduce the angle. But Italy is defending itself well.
10 minutes: Smith makes a wriggling run from the back. Zander Fagerson makes a solid carry to put the Whites on the front foot. Scotland win a penalty as the Whites are played before the ball is out the back. Scotland go to the corner.
It all started because Italy tried to run the ball, rather than kick, as they collected the restart. Now they have to defend an eight-yard lineout.
Sadness! Scotland 0-3 Italy (Allan, 8)
Scotland will not hesitate to leave their 22 just three points behind. Italy tried to score after a solid maul on a lineout. Instead, they settle for a penalty.
7 minutes: Lamaro runs the line down the back. The maul rumbles forward. They are five yards away from gaining penalty advantage. The mesh continues. They are close. The gap is gone and Brex sponges a loose ball but can’t stick the final pass. So they come back for the penalty just ahead. Looks like they’re going to take all three points.
5 minutes : Another Italian penalty on the ground. Schoeman does not roll. Garbisi and Allan discuss and the fly-half decides to kick to touch from the halfway line. It’s a good kick. They will have the alignment at 10 yards.
4 minutes: Allan misses this penalty at 38 meters. It wasn’t straight forward but the angle should have worked with his right boot. It’s a bad pass.
3 minutes: Fusco kicks and Kinghorn gathers well and sends it deep. Italy ensure the alignment in the center and in the maul. They make ground before spinning it in the back line and relaunching. Ollie Smith grabs and kicks. Italy is also kicking. Van der Merwe decides to charge into the mass of bodies and accessories, Fischetti wins a penalty on the ground. Italy wins this little kick battle and will have a shot on goal.
1 minute: A solid carry immediately from Van der Merwe after the Italy kick-off. White clogs a high kick and now Italy is building from its own half.
But the Scots know how to sing their own melody. And there is a bagpiper on the roof! I know it’s still there but still worth mentioning. Now the crowd goes acapella for the latest Flower of Scotland tunes. To like!
This Italian anthem. Everytime. So good!
Conditions look good. Both teams have pace to burn, so hopefully that means a show.
Five minutes to go. The players march through the tunnel.
Stuart Hog is at the edge of the field talking about his ankle:
It’s not as bad as initially feared. These are things that happen in rugby. Hopefully it’s around four to six weeks. That’s what the doc told me. Hopefully it will be much less.
It was amazing (playing his 100th Test for his country). I absolutely loved it. Seeing my little man running over there with the match ball was absolute quality.
Time flies when you’re having fun and (his first game) was 11 years ago.
Ollie (Smith, his replacement) is a class act. He really challenged me to get the 15 shirt and that kinda cheered me up. I hope he has a lot of ball in hand and shows what he can do.
It doesn’t involve our game today, but it’s worth sharing.
ITV shows highlights from Italy’s victory over Wales last year. I was there, reporting on the game, and it was just sensational. One of the most emotional finishes I have ever seen. Don’t count on them to do something similar today.
Gregor Townsend don’t take Italy lightly:
We are very tired. They were close to beating Ireland and France. They move the ball everywhere and they got nothing to lose
I emphasized the absence of Fin Russell, but it should also be noted that Stuart Hog don’t play either.
“It would be a disaster,” former Scottish number 8 John Barclay told ITV. He talks about the possibility of Scotland losing today and what that would mean for their entire competition.
Here is the proof that Blair can play ball.
This East purple, right?
Scotland are on an 11-game winning streak against Italy, having last lost to the Azzuri in 2015 when a late penalty try snatched it for the men in blue (Scotland were then in red, she is in a kind of mauve today)
Prior to that, the contest was fairly even with Scotland winning 12 and Italy claiming seven of the previous Tests.
Capuozzo out as Italy chase first Murrayfield win in eight years
I’m sorry to break the news if you didn’t already know, but everyone’s favorite player will not be participating today. Hot-walking wizard Ange Capuozzo suffered a shoulder injury ahead of the game against Wales, but that doesn’t mean Italy can’t hurt Scotland today. 10-year-old Paolo Garbisi is a superstar and a powerful backline.
Italy: Alan; Bruno, Brex, Menoncello, Gesi; P Garbisi, Fusco; Fischetti, Nicotera, Riccioni, Iachizzi, Ruzza, Negri, Lamaro (c), L Cannone
Replacements: Manfredi, Zani, Ceccarelli, N Cannone, Pettinelli, Zuliani, A Garbisi, Morisi.
No Finns but a solid Scottish team named
Blair Kinghorn starts at 10. This will attract attention. He’s no Bobby Dazzler but he’s got pace and deft hands.
Scotland: Black-smith; Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe; Kinghorn, White; Schoeman, Turner, Z Fagerson, Skinner, Gray, Ritchie (c), Watson, Dempsey
Subs: Ashman, Sutherland, Nel, Cummings, M Fagerson, Price, Healy, Redpath
Preamble
Daniel Gallain
Hello everyone! We created it. The final round of what has been a cracking Six Nations. And, if I may be a bit personal, these are my two favorite teams in the competition. I know France and Ireland are the darlings of European rugby at the moment, but I love what the Scots and the Italians are. He must be dashing and daring (despite the absence of Finn).
For Scotland, they have a chance to underline their status as the third best team on the continent. They haven’t finished in the first half since 2018 and a win today will secure third place.
Italy are ready to prove that last year’s victory over Wales was no wonder. They have been disappointing this season despite putting up strong performances. Winning today would be a scalp and as it’s their last hoorah they’re going to give it their all.
My name is Daniel, but feel free to call me Dan, we are all friends in these parts. Write to me if you want. Looking forward to being with you in the next few hours.
Kick off is at 12:30 p.m.. Teams and more coming soon.
Fr
