A hat-trick from Blair Kinghorn helped secure Scotland a 26-14 bonus-point victory over Italy in their Six Nations clash at Murrayfield.
The scoreline might suggest a fairly comfortable win for the Scots but it was far from it as Italy pushed their hosts until the final whistle on Saturday.
With the clock almost in the red and Scotland leading 19-14, Italy were banging on the home team’s try-line before a breakaway added gloss to the win.
Kinghorn‘s hat-trick score was part of four tries from Gregor Townsend’s men on the day, with Duhan van der Merwe claiming the opening crossing.
Tommaso Allan went over for Italy’s only try of the game as they finish the Six Nations in last spot, but will take plenty of positives from the campaign.
Italy had a chance to get the scoreboard ticking when they awarded a penalty on the 10-metre line in the fourth minute but Allan ― who was born in Scotland ― saw his kick drift just left of the posts.
Four minutes later, however, Allan got the Azzurri off the mark when he kicked a penalty from the 22.
The Scots sparked into life in the 13th minute when Van der Merwe received an offload from Huw Jones wide on the left and did superbly to ride the challenge of Paolo Garbisi and plant the ball down just inside the touchline. Kinghorn was wide with his conversion attempt.
The Italians managed to get their noses back in front three minutes later when Allan scored another penalty.
The visitors were forced into a change in the 23rd minute when Edoardo Iachizzi went off injured and was replaced by Niccolo Cannone.
Six minutes later, they suffered a further blow when prop Danilo Fischetti was shown a yellow card for repeated scrum infringements by the Italian front-row. Winger Simone Gesi was temporarily sacrificed as Pietro Ceccarelli was introduced from the bench to reinforce the front-row.
Scotland made the extra man count within a matter of seconds as Ben White took the ball from the base of the scrum, carried forward and played in Kinghorn, who spotted a gap and dived over. The number 10 duly converted his own try.
The hosts continued on the front foot early in the second half and Kinghorn got himself a second try just four minutes after the restart following another assist by White. The try-scorer again added the extras.
Just as Scotland looked in full control, however, Italy got themselves back in the match when Allan bounded over for a well-executed try on the left. The try-scorer missed then missed the chance to bring the Azzurri within a converted try of victory when he fluffed his conversion attempt.
😲 Some way to seal the win. Brilliant try! 👏#GuinnessSixNations #SCOvITApic.twitter.com/qNfKFowQa0
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) March 18, 2023
But four minutes later, team-mate Garbisi took over kicking duties and sent a penalty soaring between the posts from just outside the 10-metre line to reduce the deficit to just five points.
Italy piled on the pressure in the closing stages and looked like they might be about to force a victory before Scotland broke away in the last action of the match, with Kinghorn racing gleefully behind the posts after being handed a clear run by Van der Merwe. The number 10 capped a memorable afternoon for himself with a close-range conversion.
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