[2018 6 Nations] Round 5 : Italy v Scotland (17/03/2018)

[Every Time Ref]

FINALLY a not rolling away penalty ... come on Tomasso ...

 

[NDC89]

Really hope Italy win, Parisse (who hasn't really been the player he once was this tournament) has been such a great servant of the game he doesn;t really deserve 100 losses. Would be a sad record.

 

[Groundhog]

That's a ******* joke.

 

[Every Time Ref]

********

 

[Reiser99]

Now I haven't seen a replay, but that looked like two separate mauls (stupid auto correct) detaching then coming together again.

 

[RugbyMarvel]

So annoying

 

[RugbyMarvel]

Now I haven't seen a replay, but that looked like two separate nails detaching then coming together again.

You would be right

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Just seen Gregor Townsend reversing the "Scotland have turned a corner" celebratory open top bus back into the garage

 

[Mike Rolls]

As a neutral, one's heart has to bleed for Italy - the better side lost, and it seemed that every time there was a 50:50 situation somehow it come out in Scotland's favour.
Mike

 

[Every Time Ref]

Ah well it was nice while it lasted.

Discipline definitely a killer for Italy, but then if the ref had refereed the breakdown a touch differently I think we'd all be saying the same about Scotland.

Edit:

Just seen Gregor Townsend reversing the "Scotland have turned a corner" celebratory open top bus back into the garage

I've been as happy as the next man with the recent Scottish resurgence but this is as good as I want them to get. Capable of absolutely creaming England when playing well; still capable of losing to Italy. That is the exact right amount of Scottish competence for me

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Ugh. No complaints for me. The match was in their hands and they didn't take the chance.

I have to defend Parisse. Everyone, including him, knows he is not at the same level as yesteryear, but he is retained as much for what he brings off the field as on it and I believe it was a plea from CoS for him to stay on and provide some leadership to the young bucks.

The thing is Italy could improve year on year for the next few years and still not get a better chance of a win in the 6N than that match because it is so competitive. Ugh.

 

[RugbyMarvel]

Ah well it was nice while it lasted.

Discipline definitely a killer for Italy, but then if the ref had refereed the breakdown a touch differently I think we'd all be saying the same about Scotland.

Scotland forwards were responsible for:

- Illegal mauling leading to a try and a 3 pointer.

- Not supporting their body weight, going past the ball, tackler not releasing.

- Entering rucks off their feet.

- Not rolling away from the tackles player.

Alarmingly this happened throughout the 80 minutes and they were rarely pinged.

 

[Chris P]

First post! As a Scot, feel sorry for Italy. A dominant 60min. As for us, some of the worst discipline and fortunate refereeing in the 6 nations so far.

 

[Hap]

You can't imagine how painful this is.
We should have closed the match at the beginning of 2nd half but we didn't. Don't wanna add anything else, it won't be elegant.

 

[Scotty]

Fair play to italy, townsend is the winner but which coach is happier. Italy showed some class and didnt let them dominate the breakdown. And didnt crumble in the last 20, they havnt got the same bench and yes they let there foot off but good to see they didnt get blown away, ahead in last 5 min and when scotland kicked the points they still fought to get back to the scotish half to give one final go. Didnt come off but still.

 

[TW27BA]

Like a few others, I feel for Italy after that. Better for much of the game they didn't desrve the final score. Once again, their fitness in the last 20mins and penalty count went against them.
They have certainly unearthed a good player in flanker Polledri.

 

[Hastie7]

Terrible first 55 for Scotland credit to Italy. Unfortunately they ran out out of gas in the last 20-25 and Scotland's superior fitness and a bit of character saw them through.

Or maybe it was a tactical master stroke from Townsend with the midget midfield of Laidlaw, Grigg and Horne terrifying the Italians. Must be one the smallest trios to play international rugby.

 

[Hastie7]

Just seen Gregor Townsend reversing the "Scotland have turned a corner" celebratory open top bus back into the garage

To be fair we have turned a few corners. You don't bear the scars of watching ten years + of absolutely rotten rugby battling it out for the wooden spoon.

Only a few years ago we would have lost that game by 15, yesterday we were poor for 50 minutes but still ended up winning and scoring four tries. You're lucky if we scored four in the tournament before.

No open top buses but relatively good progress.