YER PIZZAS, DEEP FRIED
Scotland get the job done in Italy, look ahead to Ireland, trouble for U20s and signing news
WELCOME: well it wasn’t pretty at times, but Scotland now have two victories to their name for the 2022 Six Nations. Sure, this is an Italy side that have not won in the tournament since 2015, but Saturday’s match in Rome was a definite banana skin for Toonie and co, and a win’s a win for all that. This week we look back at all the weekend’s action, including yet another defeat for the Scotland Young Team (U20s to the layman), cast our eyes over signing news at the pro teams, and bring you all that was good and great in the land of Scots abroad. Enjoy!
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ITALIAN JOB: Scotland secured their second win of this year’s Six Nations, overcoming a stuffy Italian side 33-22 on Saturday afternoon at the Stadio Olimpico. The match was far from a classic, and Scotland made life hard for themselves through their own ill discipline and at times passive defence, but in the end they showed in patches that they were the better side. Two late Italian scores skewed the final scoreline in a way that doesn’t quite reflect the visitors’ dominance on the day, and Townsend will be frustrated at his side’s drop in concentration and intensity in the final quarter.
Scotland recovered from an inauspicious start to the match - a high penalty count and passive defence all they had to show for the opening stanza - to cross for the first try of the match, Sam Johnson touching down after good work in the build up from George Turner and Ali Price, two of our best performers on the day. Chris Harris then got his first try of the day after a frantic passage of the match, following up on smart play from Price and Kyle Steyn, before Italy stemmed the flow of points with a score of their own. Harris then dived over for his second just before the break, followed by Darcy Graham’s score early in the second half to secure the bonus point, just reward for a power of work in both defence and attack. Hogg then got on the end of another good run from Price to score Scotland’s fifth try (and his 26th for the national side).
Perhaps sensing job done, Scotland switched off the for the final twenty minutes, allowing Italian replacement Capuozzo in for two tries, who took advantage of some weak tackling and general lack of urgency in setting the defensive line. However, the damage was already done and the visitors were able to see out the match.
Highlights below:
THE PRICE IS RIGHT: firstly the positives. Scotland once again proved that they are a far better side than Italy. This might not sound like much, but it really wasn’t that long ago that these matches could go either way. When Scotland clicked in attack they scored some nice tries, combining the direct running of Johnson, Harris and Steyn with the footwork of Hogg and Graham. Most pleasingly, they took most of the chances offered. Although the drop off in the last 15 minutes was disappointing, it is sometimes hard to properly evaluate performances against Italy, especially when the result has already been decided.
At the individual level, Ali Price - on his fiftieth cap - played with the freedom of old, and caused problems for the Italian defence throughout (albeit his box kicking had room for improvement). Elsewhere in the back line, Johnson was reassuringly solid, while Graham can seemingly do no wrong at the moment. Hogg, Steyn and Harris all had their moments in both attack and defence, but the consistency of performance was lacking in parts.
George Turner was perhaps the pick of the bunch in the forwards, justifying his selection ahead of Rambo; when he gets going he is one of our most destructive players in the loose. Pierre Schoeman once again put in a power of work and is increasingly looking like Scotland’s forward of the tournament. It might sound obvious, but he is absolutely massive. Darge brought his usual good work at the breakdown, while Watson, Matt Fagerson and Sam Skinner were all busy.
SOFT TOUCH? Ultimately Scotland have no chance of upsetting the odds in Dublin this weekend if they turn out a similar performance to what we witnessed in Rome, despite the win. The Italian defence is the polar opposite to the Irish, and Scotland are unlikely to create nearly as many attacking chances come Saturday. Proper test matches these days tend to be decided by the percentages, so Scotland might have to tame their swashbuckling instincts and plump for more of a smart kicking strategy on the day (exactly what they failed to do against France two weeks ago).
Perhaps the most worrying aspects of Saturday were Scotland’s poor discipline and leaky defence. Italy - who had only crossed the whitewash once in this year’s Six Nations prior to Saturday - scored three tries at the weekend. So far Scotland have conceded 95 points across the tournament, or an average of just under 24 per match, which is second only to the Italians. They also have the highest total penalty count (46) in the tournament, and the highest amount of ruck penalties against (H/T Kevin Millar of Top of the Moon fame for these figures).
These are damning stats, and beg the question - as asked by Tom English yesterday on the BBC - of whether Scotland are becoming a “soft touch”? This Scotland team is supposed to have evolved to be built on meagre defence and a "hard to beat” mentality, in the words of defence coach Steve Tandy. So far this Six Nations, England aside, Scotland have arguably made it easy for the opposition and hard for themselves. Ireland away is a daunting task but also a great opportunity to prove the doubters wrong, and show that England victory was not a flash in the pan.
BRADBURY BEAR: it was finally confirmed last week that Edinburgh back row Magnus Bradbury will leave the club at the end of the season, and is heading to join the Bristol Bears. There had been much speculation in recent months over whether Bradbury, who has been in flying form this season, would re-sign for the capital side, with rumours of interests from several English premiership sides. On the one hand it is a shame that Maggie is set to depart just when he is finding his best form again - after flattering to deceive under the Cockerill regime in the last few seasons. However, rugby careers are short, he has been a dedicated servant to the club (a very young centurion) and the Bears are a growing team with a lot of potential. In addition, Edinburgh are increasingly stacked in the back row, with Muncaster and Boyle particularly impressive this season, alongside the more established Mata, Kunavula, Ritchie, Watson, Haining and Crosbie (oh lordie, what a list!). It is also easy to forget that Bradbury is just 26, so there is plenty of time for him to return north of the border in the future - good luck Maggie, and haste ye back!
DARGE-ELING EXPRESS: meanwhile at the other end of the M8, Glasgow flanker Rory Darge, Scottish rugby’s hottest property, has signed a new long-term contract with the Warriors. In true SRU fashion, the length of the deal is not for us mere mortals to find out, but we can assume it is likely at least for a further 2 years. To trot out an overused cliche, it has been a meteoric rise for young Darge. Unable to break through at Edinburgh before being given the chance to shine at Glasgow, he has firmly established himself in the Warriors back row, and has arguably been Scotland’s most impressive player in this year’s Six Nations after debuting against the French. In our own Alan Little’s words, it is hard to remember a forward debut as good in recent years, across the tournament as a whole. It will be very interesting to see what happens when Jamie Ritchie returns from injury - on form you would have to say that Darge has the edge even over Hamish Watson at the moment - albeit two opensides did work fairly well at the weekend. Decisions, decisions…
THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT: Scotland U-20 fell to their fourth straight defeat in this year’s junior Six Nations, going down 13-27 at the hands of their Italian counterparts on Friday night. Kenny Murray’s men travel to Ireland - who were comfortable victors in the corresponding fixture last year - this weekend looking to avoid a consecutive whitewash in the Championship - eek. While Italy are a far stronger proposition at this level than their senior counterparts, having dispatched England in the opening rounds, the Scottish performance was nevertheless disappointing, particularly in terms of physicality and unforced errors.
There is a bit of a rot at the U20 level right now, starting with relegation to the second tier of the Junior World Cup, and the contrasting fortunes with the young Italians is especially worrying. It certainly doesn’t help that many of the current crop had very limited game time in the lead up to this year’s tournament - many not even troubling the Super 6 playing squads - while the pause of that competition has seemed to create confusion about who can and cannot ‘play down’ the leagues into Premier 1 and beyond. There is also strong argument for limiting the number of non-Scots qualified or over-23 players in Super 6 squads. Whatever the final decision, something needs to change quickly before we fall even further behind.
Highlights below:
SCOTS ABROAD
Worcester v Exeter: Murray McCallum (1), Finn Smith (10), Isaac Miller (16) and Jack Owlett (17) v
Leicester v London Irish: Matt Scott (13) v Henry Arundell (15) and Kyle Rowe (23) - Scott helping himself to a clever intercept try in a comfortable victory for the hosts. We have been told London Irish try scorer Arundell - despite currently playing for England U20s - is Scots qualified…
Newcastle v Saracens: v Tim Swinson (5), Duncan Taylor (12) and Sean Maitland (14)
Sale v Gloucester: Ewan Ashman (2), Tom Roebuck (14) and Gus Warr (21) v Andrew Davidson (19) and Charlie Chapman (21) - livewire Chapman getting himself on the scoresheet after a 95m dash post-interception.
Bristol v Harlequins: Jake Kerr (16) v Huw Jones (13) and Scott Steele (21)
Northampton v Wasps: Rory Hutchinson (12) and Fraser Dingwall (13) v Robin Hislop (17) - Dingwall has been the Saints’ most consistent player of late: is he worth getting into a Scotland camp to see what he’s about?
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