Mon 24 Jun 2013 | 04:14
Scotland score late try to snatch victory from Italy in Pretoria

4
Comments

Scotland scored a last minute converted try to snatch a 30-29 victory over Italy in Pretoria on Saturday. The two northern hemisphere sides were competing for third place in the inaugural Quad Series in South Africa.

Flanker Alasdair Strokosch scored after the final hooter, giving Greig Laidlaw a shot at goal to sneak the win over their Six Nations rivals, and end the season on a high.

Italy started well with a first minute try to Leonardo Sarto, but Matt Scott cancelled that out soon after. Sean Lamont then crossed, before another penalty brought Italy back into the game.

It was all square at 20-20 at the break, before Alberto Di Bernardo's boot gave the Italians what looked like a comfortable lead and a good crack at their first win of the tournament.

Strokosch's dramatic late effort knocked the stuffing out of the Italians though, with Laidlaw's conversion sealing the win. He has praised the youngsters for their efforts.

"The new caps were absolutely brilliant. I thought they were outstanding, every one of them. It has been tough but there is flip side to that coin. The young guys on the tour have put their hand up and they've given more depth to Scottish rugby already and they've only played in two or three Tests.

"We are disappointed at the performance but last week was a good performance and we were beaten. This week we did cross the line. It took us 80 minutes but we did it," the skipper added.

South Africa won the tournament, winning all their games and beating Samoa 56-23 in the final.

4 Comments

  • lucius
    6:39 PM 25/06/2013

    Italy (and Scots) had a tough year so far and Parisse, Zanni and others, did a great job during Nations. But now we pay the bill: fatigue. Also, I think Italy's scrum is focusing on the scrum battle only and not the bad side effects, in other areas (defence).

  • celt11
    3:01 AM 25/06/2013

    Surprised they cut Parisse's boot to Laidlaw's head, still cant believe that wasn't a card, not even a penalty. Some of the refereeing in the final minutes was shocking the italians were offside by several meters at every ruck.

    But to beat Italy with at least 8 starters unavailable is a good result as far as im concerned and if we had of had a competitive scrum the score line could have been very different.

  • wertas
    9:26 PM 24/06/2013

    I think Parisse is living on his overhype. Let's look at Italy's defence during second Scotland's try. Parisse had two times to commit to tackle, but failed as waited for other, but didn't get his hand dirty. Italy is no longer one man's team as 6 and 7 numbers are doing much harder and dirtier job than Parisse, but he is taking all the credit.

  • benny
    8:30 PM 24/06/2013

    Hard luck for Parisse, they were outnumbered on that side so he needed to rush up but even worse, the poor soul was limping badly a few seconds earlier so didn't have much chance anyway.