Scotland bore Italy into the ground

Paterson kicks Azzurri to death

Scotland recorded their first RBS Six Nations win since 2003 by recording a 18-10 victory over Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday, thereby relinquishing the wooden spoon that they picked up last season.

Italy had the better of the first half on a cold afternoon of drizzle, Scotland of the second -- but it was a match of much kicking which would not have been out of place at Celtic Park.

Chris Paterson scored all Scotland's points with six penalty goals.  Italy got a try with a minute to go but their pursuit of victory was frustrated by missing three penalty goals and a comfortable dropped goal.

Scotland came into meaningful Italian territory three times in the first half and led 6-3 at the break.

Partly this was Italy's fault.  They missed two kicks at goal from penalties and one from a wayward drop attempt.  Partly it was Scotland's good play as they defended against the waves of Italian attack on their line, close-quarters, bashing stuff.

On the first two occasions Italy were penalised in the half -- when Marco Bortolami and then Martín Castrogiovanni infringed at tackle/rucks -- Chris Paterson scored from penalties.

In between Roland de Marigny managed to get one over when the Scottish backs went off-side a few metres from their line.  This followed a massive Italian attack after Paterson had dropped a high ball and Andrea Lo Cicero led the attack.

The Scots started off running wide to the wings, and then meekly subsided into kicking.  The Italians kicked as a first principle.  Their second principle was a maul, reminiscent of the ancient Roman arm's tortoise formation, the testudo.

At half-time Scotland led 6-3.

There were light moments in the second half.  Dan Parks ran for the only time in the match and broke sharply till his confidence deserted him.  The Scots stole an Italian line-out on their left and spun it wide for big Sean Lamont to bash his way over the line ... only to be called back for a forward pass.

With nine minutes left Paterson made it 15-3 and then 18-3 with five minutes left.  Italy put pressure on, and big Sergio Parisse charged down an attempted clearance by replacement Gordon Ross.  Andrea Masi dived on the ball in the Scotland in-goal.  De Marigny converted.

There was a minute left.  Scotland were penalised.  Italy tapped and went but lost the ball and then Scotland looked as if they wanted to score a try but were tackled out at the right corner.

The final whistle went.

Man of the Match:  There were two players who tried to run with the ball -- Sean Lamont of Scotland and Andrea Masi of Italy.  Sean Lamont did it better and is our man-of-the-match.

Moment of the Match:  It had to be the charge-down by Sergio Parisse and the try by Andrea Masi.

Villain of the Match:  Nobody, unless it was an overused boot.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens:  Paterson 6

For Italy:
Try:  Masi
Con:  De Marigny
Pen:  De Marigny

The teams:

Scotland:  15 Chris Paterson, 14 Simon Webster, 13 Andy Craig, 12 Hugo Southwell (Ben Hinshelwood, 71), 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks (Gordon Ross, 73), 9 Chris Cusiter (Mike Blair, 78), 8 Allister Hogg, 7 Jon Petrie, 6 Simon Taylor (Jon Dunbar, 75), 5 Scott Murray (Nathan Hines, 75), 4 Stuart Grimes, 3 Gavin Kerr ( Bruce Douglas, 73), 2 Gordon Bulloch (captain), 1 Tom Smith.
Unused Replacements:  16 Robbie Russell.

Italy:  15 Roland de Marigny, 14 Mirco Bergamasco (Kaine Robertson, 73), 13 Christian Stoica (Roberto Pedrazzi, 58), 12 Andrea Masi, 11 Ludovico Nitoglia, 10 Luciano Orquera (Paul Griffen, 68), 9 Alessandro Troncon, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 David dal Maso, 6 Aaron Persico, 5 Marco Bortolami (captain), 4 Santiago Dellapè (Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 63), 3 Martin Castrogiovanni (Salvatore Perugini, 63), 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Unused replacements:  16 Giorgio Intoppa, 19 Silvio Orlando.

Referee:  Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)