6 Nations
Scotland get past Italy. Highlights & Interviews
Scotland secured their first win of the 2020 Guinness Six Nations championship with a solid defensive effort, as they kept their Italian counterparts pointless in glorious conditions at Stadio Olimpico in Rome (0-17).
The first-half saw the visitors hold a narrow five-point lead going into the interval, following a terrific solo try from captain and full-back Stuart Hogg, who picked a fine line and held his nerve as he raced through the Italian defence.
The second-half was initially a more turgid affair but a try from centre Chris Harris was enough to spark inspiration for Scotland who carried their momentum to the end of the game.
Scotland captain, Hogg, said: “We were delighted with that. We came here to do a job and we’ve done exactly that. I’m so proud of the boys.
“We had a huge challenge in terms of their back-row. We challenged our boys to stand up and you can see that with Hamish Watson getting man-of-the-match, backed up by Jamie Ritchie and Magnus Bradbury.”
Match Highlights:
Dominance and brute force in the scrum fell in Scotland’s favour early on as the side were awarded a penalty, to which Stuart Hogg booted into touch to set-up a lineout ten metres from the line.
Hooker Stuart McInally threw it long and into the hands of Sam Johnson as the centre picked a superb line to bring the side close to the Italian whitewash, however, an unfortunate knock-on thwarted their progress.
The Scotland pack remained in control in the scrum and lineouts in the opening exchanges, winning penalties and keeping the Azzurri at bay.
Stand-off Adam Hastings was handed his first sight of goal on the 10th minute but his attempt unfortunately failed to hit target.
Scotland lacked the clinical edge required for the next ten minutes, as the side struggled to penetrate through the Italian defence. A series of costly errors continued to mar their progress.
On the 21st minute, however, a series of slick passes created a sliver of an opportunity for Hogg. A neat dummy allowed him the space to accelerate down the right touchline where he evaded three defenders before diving into the corner.
Scotland thought they had their second try of the game nine minutes later when scrum-half Ali Price dotted down, however it was disallowed following a TMO review, which showed a forward pass from Watson to Johnson in the lead-up.
Italy started to test the resolve of the dogged Scotland defence but were struggling to craft the breakthrough.
The side had to settle for a chance at the posts but Scotland breathed a sigh of relief when Tommaso Allan’s kick hit the posts just before the interval.
Scotland came firing out the blocks in the second-half and were agonisingly close to the try line following a good break by Watson, who offloaded to Magnus Bradbury, who carried hard and deep into the Italian 22 before being thwarted at the 5m line.
He got his popped up offload away to supporting back-row compadre Jamie Ritchie who was tackled as the ball met his arms and knocked on.
Buoyed by the growing momentum, Scotland cranked through the gears in a series of pick and goes.
The ball was then moved wide to the on-rushing Chris Harris who crashed over the line.
Hastings’ struggles from the tee continued as the he missed the conversion from out wide.
Scotland lost a bit of momentum as Italy started to make some promising attacks in the visitor’s territory, however, the pendulum swung once again as Federico Zani was shown a yellow card for a tip-tackle on replacement lock Grant Gilchrist.
With a penalty decision reversed as a result, Scotland had a good attacking opportunity knocking at their door again, however, the lineout failed to hit the target, which allowed Italy to get back on the ball.
Scotland’s third and final try came in the last minute as Hastings collected the ball from around 30 metres out to cruise past a passive Italian defence down the blindside before sauntering over the line.
Hastings made no mistake with the conversion to extend the gap on the scoreboard and see out the match,
Post Match Press Conference:
Match Report from Scottish Rugby
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Jordan signs for Bristol Bears
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
