USRN

In stark contrast to the first game of the 2019 6 nations between Wales vs France, this game between Scotland and Italy had ideal playing conditions for both teams.

Scotland for the most part opted to keep the ball in hand and running it as much as they could with the exception of the odd and it has to be said
sublime kick from Finn Russell who was in great form in the first half. It was one of these kicks which led to the opening try for Scotland. A perfectly judged cross field kick landed right into the bread basket for the very impressive Kinghorn to trot in for an easy try after the catch. Less then 10 minutes later and Kinghorn touched down again after a switch play from the base of the scrum and with Hogg drawing the Italian defenders to slot Kinghorn into the corner.

On 26 minutes Irish man Ian McKinely, who was forced to retire whilst playing for Leinster due to an eye injury now found himself coming onto the field for his adoptive country in place of Tommaso Allan who was forced off for a HIA assessment but thankfully subsequently passed.

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The second half started out with more of the same from Scotland who scored within 6 minutes of the restart. A clever grubber kick from Finn Russell left Hogg sprinting to beat the Italian defender to touch the ball down first.

On the 53rd minutes man of the match Blair Kinghorn touched down for his hat-trick with a great dummy and side step for a terrific finish.
Scotland were still in the driving seat and were controlling the game and on the 61st minute this dominance came to fruition through the impressive replacement Chris Harris scoring after a great initial break from Stuart Hogg to set up.

Scotland’s dominance did reach it’s limits with Italy finally growing into the game on the 70th minute. Three tries within 7 minutes proved too little too late for Italy but did show what they are capable of when the game is unstructured. Tries from scrum half Palazzani, Padovani and Angel Esposito put a gloss on the scoreline for Italy that was perhaps not reflective of Scotland’s dominance and control of the game.