6N Round 3: Scotland v Italy, 28 February

First topic message reminder :

  
SCOTLAND v ITALY
Saturday 28 February 2015
KO 14:30 (GMT)
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Live on BBC1

Referee: George Clancy (IRFU)
AR1: Romain Poite (FFR)
AR2: Leighton Hodges (WRU)
TMO: Graham Hughes (RFU)

A. Teams:

1. SCOTLAND

15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tommy Seymour
13 Mark Bennett
12 Alex Dunbar
11 Sean Lamont
10 Peter Horne
09 Greig Laidlaw (capt)

01 Alasdair Dickinson
02 Ross Ford
03 Euan Murray
04 Tim Swinson
05 Jonny Gray
06 Rob Harley
07 Blair Cowan
08 Johnnie Beattie

16 Fraser Brown
17 Ryan Grant
18 Geoff Cross
19 Ben Toolis
20 Hamish Watson
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
22 Greig Tonks
23 Matt Scott

2. ITALY

15 Luke McLean
14 Michele Visentin
13 Luca Morisi
12 Enrico Bacchin
11 Giovambattista Venditti
10 Kelly Haimona
09 Edoardo Gori

01 Matias Aguero
02 Leonardo Ghiraldini
03 Dario Chistolini
04 George Fabio Biagi
05 Joshua Furno
06 Francesco Minto
07 Simone Favaro
08 Sergio Parisse (capt)

16 Andrea Manici
17 Alberto De Marchi
18 Lorenzo Cittadini
19 Marco Fuser
20 Samuela Vunisa
21 Guglielmo Palazzani
22 Tommaso Allan
23 Giulio Bisegni.

B. Form (last 4 games):

1. SCOTLAND

15/02/15 - Scotland 23 - 26 Wales

07/02/15 - France 15 - 8 Scotland

22/11/14 - Scotland 37 - 12 Tonga

15/11/14 - Scotland 16 - 24 New Zealand

2. ITALY

14/02/15 - England 47 - 17 Italy

07/02/15 - Italy 3 - 26 Ireland

22/11/14 - Italy 6–22 South Africa

14/11/14 - Italy 18–20 Argentina

C. Head to Head:

21 Played 21

14 Wins 7

7 Losses 14

0 Draws 0

40 Tries 28

30 Conversions 23

58 Penalties 50

5 Drop Goals 6

475 Points 365

The scrums are simply poor. Agree with the commentators about Clancy being close to showing a yellow card?

What are you talking about Steffan?

I think thats a try, unbelievable perk of having such a poor placekicker!

Scotland really caught napping there, looks a try to me.

Oh FFS. That is criminal. Why don't we just hand Italy the game now?

Griff wrote:

Steffan wrote:It amazing what a clean side Scotland can be when Dan Bigger isn't playing against them

T*sser.

And proud of it...tough guy

How lucky do you want to get!!

We really do switch off at times!

Steffan wrote:

Griff wrote:

Steffan wrote:It amazing what a clean side Scotland can be when Dan Bigger isn't playing against them

T*sser.

And proud of it...tough guy

I'm embarrassed for you.

That Italian number 10 might just be the worst player I have ever seen in the 6 Nations.

Italy are doing well here. Scotland seemed to be running away with it. But well done to Italy for sticking in there.

Well that was just dreadful.

FecklessRogue wrote:That Italian number 10 might just be the worst player I have ever seen in the 6 Nations.

Brilliant assist tbf.

FecklessRogue wrote:That Italian number 10 might just be the worst player I have ever seen in the 6 Nations.

He looks so lazy, Luke McLean is covering two positions for him, his kicking is poor, his positional awareness is non existent and his defence is average at best.

Scotland looking mentally fragile again. Laidlaw needs to take control of the team.

Watching the replay. Is the try venditti scored not a double movement? He is tackled, tries to ground the ball to the right of the post, he's pulled back then has another crack at the line to the left of the post!!!

Big second half off Italy now hopefully

tigertattie wrote:Watching the replay. Is the try venditti scored not a double movement? He is tackled, tries to ground the ball to the right of the post, he's pulled back then has another crack at the line to the left of the post!!!

Did it touch ground inside the posts? If not, there's no double movement.

Notch wrote:

FecklessRogue wrote:That Italian number 10 might just be the worst player I have ever seen in the 6 Nations.

Brilliant assist tbf.

I like the way lulled Scotland into a false sense of security by kicking so poorly for two and a half matches, then BANG! He sets up the try when they least expect it.

tigertattie wrote:Watching the replay. Is the try venditti scored not a double movement? He is tackled, tries to ground the ball to the right of the post, he's pulled back then has another crack at the line to the left of the post!!!

Naw, he doesn't ground the ball at any point before he does if you know what I mean. He isn't taken to ground before he places the ball either.

Not picked for his kicking game, Mr Horne, I'm guessing.

Haimona off. The only surprise is that he starts at all.

That's the one rule I dislike about mauling and the choke tackle, the team going forward and with momentum looses the feed at the scrum.

Nachos Jones wrote:That's the one rule I dislike about mauling and the choke tackle, the team going forward and with momentum looses the feed at the scrum.

If they were going forward the referee wouldn't have a decision to make.

It's all a bit stodgy this game!

Notch wrote:

Nachos Jones wrote:That's the one rule I dislike about mauling and the choke tackle, the team going forward and with momentum looses the feed at the scrum.

If they were going forward the referee wouldn't have a decision to make.

Pretty sure that Italy were moving forward when the maul collapsed. Scotland could then just lie all over the ball knowing that they would get the scrum. I just see that if Italy had been making the meters and the ball goes dead then they deserved the put in.

Excited to see Watson get the ball in his hands. Did Beattie actually do anything today?

Italy were going forward- and then the maul collapsed so they stopped going forward. So neither side is going forward when the referee has to make a decision on whether the ball is playable or not.

Giving the put-in to the mauling side would remove the incentive to take it out of the maul.

Attacker gets enough benefits at the maul IMO. Keep it at the back and you can get the ball out if it goes down.

Rob Harley was letting a few elbows loose on the Italian players back in that scrum...

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:Excited to see Watson get the ball in his hands. Did Beattie actually do anything today?

Well as soon as Beattie went off, our scrum went backwards.

All the Scottish kicking has been a bit too long I think. Not creating any pressure.

Notch wrote:Italy were going forward- and then the maul collapsed so they stopped going forward. So neither side is going forward when the referee has to make a decision on whether the ball is playable or not.

Giving the put-in to the mauling side would remove the incentive to take it out of the maul.

Of course the maul stopped going forward when it collapsed, I am not talking about that. I am talking about the lead up to the collapse, the ball becoming unplayable and the momentum going towards the attacking side. What's wrong with having mauls?

Its the same with the choke tackle, often the side with the momentum looses the momentum due to loosing the feed when the ball becomes unplayable.

That was miles forward

Much better stuff.

Miles forward, good call , Italy defence better than the first half.

Wooden spoon for the loser

Good passage of play by Scots

Did Clancy just warn the Italians there with a yellow card? Not sure if I heard it properly.

...crunch moment of the game, perhaps...

criminal pass to the touchlines..

Has there been a single completed scrum in this game???

This has been an utterly abject performance.

Could easily have been a card there too. Not good

Just awful.

Again Vern has left Laidlaw on the field for far too long IMO.

Problem is, if the Italians do get the try here Scotland don't look like they can get a score back, unless they get another penalty

Surely if the scrum is going nowhere they have to use it?? A good 10s not moving!

Scots wasting time and getting away with it

The commentators are right about the scrums - not being used a s a restart so much as a penalty generator.

Carlo Del Fava is the only winner of this game.