Edinburgh – Italy loses the game they could have won: at 19-14 Allan gave up on putting the 19-17 oval in between the posts. Head-on attack, less than two meters from the Scottish goal, on the axis of the Garbisi brothers. Ball that falls to Paolo, but which immediately returns to the blue hands. Another assault, perhaps an offside by the blues, yesterday in a thistle-colored shirt: Van der Merwe goes away, supported by Kinghorn with long levers. Coast to coast destination, the fourth of the Scots, the third of those who took the place of the brilliant Finn Russell, who was injured. He didn’t regret it.
The overtaking at the last, stunning moment of a year ago in Cardiff is not repeated and Italy ends at the bottom: it is the 18th spoonful of the blues in 24 editions, the eighth in a row, but it is made of more precious wood: progress in the game is accompanied by figures that do not smell of catastrophe, as in certain ruthless seasons. In the balance of facts-conceded, minus 60. The number of goals scored remains high: still four. In this sense, Italy remains the most generous team: five matches and five offensive bonuses granted to the opponents.
“We just have to continue on the road we have taken, with an ever more attentive attention to detail. But it is clear that our spirit has changed”, concluded the day in Murrayfield Michele Lamaro, captain of a team that did not collect a single victory, against the two anticipated by the president Marzio Innocenti, but has been able to collect many consentseven by the harshest critics, those who considered it appropriate to be expelled from the 6 Nations.
The Azzurri suffered in the first half and crossed the midfield line no more than twice. With maximum effort the Scots collect the minimum result: 12-6. The first try is a high school number of Van der Merwe, full size forward, South African equivalent. Bruno, undecided, loses sight of him for a moment and it is sufficient for an aerial and acrobatic score despite a desperate attempt by Garbisi.
Italy resisted a series of hard frontal attacks, losing Riccioni (yellow card for pushing early in the scrum) and on the developments of an advancing maul and a missed tackle by Fusco suffers the second goalthe first of Kinghorn’s happy afternoon which opens the second half going over the line slipping between Brex and Negri.
Like a week ago against Ireland, Scotland loosened their grip, fell physically, ended up in a confused dimension and the Azzurri’s attacks, brought from a distance, began to take shape. It is on a ball recovered by the Genoese Bruno who the attack begins continued by the youngest of the Garbisi (Alessandro) for his brother Paolo: soccer for Allan – Scottish on his father’s side – who collects and deposits. Four minutes later a ball kicked from 43 meters by Garbisi senior flies between the posts: 19-14 and the scent of enterprise. It would be the third at Murrayfield.
It’s the beginning of a long blue boarding which has one of the protagonists in the flanker Zuliani, a 23-year-old who is gaining more and more space for his effectiveness in the meeting points. Italy inside the 22 Scottish meters and then, for a long time, near the bases of the posts. Until Kinghorn’s long escape.
#Rugby #Italy #close #feat #falls #Scotland