Scotland 26 – 14 Italy

Blair Kinghorn scored three tries as Scotland finished their Six Nations campaign with victory

Scotland ended their 2023 Six Nations campaign on a high, although Gregor Townsend’s charges survived a big scare late on to beat Italy 26-14 at Murrayfield in the first clash of Super Saturday. 

Rangy fly-half Blair Kinghorn – starting in place of the injured Finn Russell (knee) – displayed his power to score a hat-trick, while also adding three conversions, while wing Duhan van der Merwe notched a sensational try in the corner for the hosts.

Tommaso Allan twice kicked Italy into slender leads during a first half in which they more than competed, and scored a try in the second to make the closing quarter interesting, before the away side attacked hard at the Scotland try-line in the closing stages, only to fall just fail to score.

Indeed, Italy were just five points adrift and attacking at the Scotland line in the final minute, only for Kinghorn to score the hosts’ fourth try in the final play after a break from deep.

Italy also lost tighthead Marco Riccioni to a first-half sin-binning, and finish the Six Nations with the Wooden Spoon for the eighth consecutive year.

Italy started quickly in the Scottish capital, and would have felt their pressure warranted a try before they settled for three points via the boot of Allan with an eighth-minute penalty.

Italy’s Tomasso Allan twice kicked them into slender first half leads

Scotland replied within five minutes with a stunning opening try, as powerful wing Van der Merwe took flight to finish sensationally in the corner. It left Kinghorn with a tough conversion, which he missed wide, and Italy soon regained the lead through another Allan penalty.

Duhan van der Merwe notched the opening try of the Test with a quite magnificent finish in the corner

Scotland hooker George Turner was stopped just short in the next big chance, as the hosts kicked their next penalty to the corner, before scrum-half Ben White went even closer with a dart for the line, but was kept out. A no-arms tackle brought Scotland a penalty from the next phase, but the subsequent lineout was ruled crooked and the Azzurri regained possession.

The reprieve was all too brief, however, as a free-kick at the scrum invited Scotland back onto the attack, before three successive scrum penalties saw Italy tighthead Riccioni sin-binned. Within a minute, Scotland had their second try as Kinghorn exploited the space to force his way over after a Sione Tuipulotu decoy run.

Scotland took immediate advantage vs 14 man, as Kinghorn scored his first try

Italy avoided the concession of further scores in the rest of Riccioni’s time off the park, but their final attack of their half once back up to the full complement came to nothing, as Zander Fagerson got over the ball to win a breakdown penalty, before Scotland raced down the right wing to come close to their third try, only for Kyle Steyn’s offload back inside to fall into Italian hands, ending the half.

Italy tighthead Marco Riccioni was sin-binned in the first half for repeated scrum penalties

Just five minutes into the second period, Scotland did have their third try as Kinghorn showed bulk in contact again to rumble over, after Italy had been harshly penalised by referee Angus Gardner at the breakdown to put pressure on.

Kinghorn registered his second try early in the second half, as the hosts took control

Kinghorn added two conversions off the tee in victory too

Scotland back-row replacement Matt Fagerson was lucky to avoid yellow for a blatant side-entry into an Italy rolling maul which was rumbling towards the try-line, but the away side’s next throw five metres out was crucially overthrown.

The Azzurri deservedly registered a try onto the board past the hour mark, when Allan touched down in the corner after collecting a lovely Paolo Garbisi grubber kick-pass. The Italy full-back struck wide with the conversion by the touchline, though, leaving them more than a score beyond at eight points.

A breakdown penalty won by Manuel Zuliani afforded Italy another chance within moments, but they chose to take the points on offer rather than kick down the line, as Garbisi drove through the posts to bring the game to 19-14.

Italy and skipper Michele Lamaro believed victory was on in the closing stages, but they just failed to score at the vital moment

A sustained spell of Scotland pressure around the Italy 22 after an Ali Price interception came to nothing as prop Fagerson were penalised for going off feet, before Italy looked the far likelier winners: kicking a penalty to the corner with four minutes to go, and twice knocking on with Scotland offside while trying to get over.

A third knock-on brought relief for Scotland and a scrum, from which Van der Merwe romped down the left wing, and passed inside for Kinghorn to make sure of victory.

What they said…

Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie told BBC Sport…

“When you win a Test match, it’s always a good feeling.

“Italy have probably deserved more from this tournament, they’ve played a lot of good rugby – we saw that today.

“They put us under huge amounts of pressure and I’m delighted we won that game. It was hard to get the ball off Italy, they retained it really well.

“We hadn’t had it for a while so we probably tried to do something we probably hadn’t practiced as much, so credit Italy for the middle of that second half.

“Before the tournament, I said I’d be happy with five good performances and we had four and a half, so today was a tough one but it was a solid performance.”

What’s next?

Scotland complete their 2023 Six Nations campaign with a record of three wins and two defeats, having beaten England at Twickenham, as well as Wales and Italy at Murrayfield, but lost to France in Paris and Ireland in Edinburgh.

Townsend’s Scots are next in international action in late July and August for their Rugby World Cup warm-up Tests, with four games arranged vs Italy (July 29), France (August 5) and Georgia (August 25) at Murrayfield, and France (August 12) away from home.

Italy finish their campaign with five defeats from five and the Wooden Spoon, and have so far announced two Rugby World Cup warm-up fixtures: vs Scotland (July 29) at Murrayfield and vs Ireland in Dublin (August 5).