Scotland cruised to a commanding 48-7 victory over Italy at BT Murrayfield, scoring seven tries in front of a nearly 44,000 strong crowd. Vern Cotter rung 14 changes to the starting squad that beat Italy 16-12 in Turin last week for the clash in Edinburgh.
These changes seemed to work early on but it was the sole survivor from Italy, Sean Lamont, who scored the opening try.
A pin-point accurate kick from out-half Finn Russell put the winger in at the corner.
Italy replied with a try of their own through Exeter centre Michel Campagnaro. A chip into space from Tommaso Allan was poorly fielded in the in-goal area by Scotland, leaving Camapgnaro free to touch down.
With Italian flanker Francesco Minto sinbinned after repeated infringements, the home side exploited their numerical advantage and scored their second try through John Barclay.
Scotland extended their advantage early in the second half with a Tim Visser try. The Dutch-born winger scored the first of his brace after a sumptuous floating pass from Russell.
Italy continued to struggle at scrum-time and when they did secure much sought after ball, they were largely unable to do anything with it. Testament to that was Quintin Geldenhuys loose pass finding the hands of Lamont who intercepted to race in for his second.
Scotland finished off the match in style with two more tries in the closing seven minutes. Visser bagged his second after an interception while Mark Bennett completed his return from injury with a final minute score.
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