Italy vs Scotland, Saturday 27 Feb 2:30pm Match Thread.

thomond2006

VS

Date: Saturday, February 27
Kick-off: 13:30 (14:30 GMT)
Venue: Stadio Flaminio

Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

Italy

15 Luke McLean, 14 Andrea Masi, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi,
8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), 1 Salvatore Perugini.

Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Pablo Canavosio, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Kaine Roberston.

Scotland

15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Max Evans, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Chris Cusiter (captain),
8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Al Kellock, 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Al Strokosch, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Phil Godman, 22 Nick De Luca

Expected Weather conditions: Sunny conditions, reaching a high of 15°C. Little or no wind to speak of.

thomond2006

Ieuan Evans on this game:

Saturday, kick-off: 1.30pm. TV: BBC1

Story so far:
It has been a case of nearly but not quite for Scotland.
They performed well in defeat against the French in Edinburgh and then dominated Wales for 95 per cent of the game in Cardiff before committing sporting suicide. How much their confidence has been affected by that result and injuries to key players remains to be seen.
I do believe that with a quick reshuffle they can cover the loss of Chris Paterson and Rory Lamont and go into the game with a degree of self-confidence. The Italians have proven themselves to be a limited side that desperately needs a pair of half-backs and a goal-kicker. Last week against England, they got close, but lacked the personnel to carry off a famous win.

What's at stake:
Although it has been dubbed the 'Battle to avoid the Wooden Spoon' I don't believe Scotland will look at it like that.
They are capable of beating England at Murrayfield, so if they can win here, they return to Edinburgh with a chance to make it two in four. For Italy, it's about crossing the line first and proving that they are capable of mixing it with the big five.

Key clash:
Johnnie Beattie's battle with Alessandro Zanni promises to be intriguing. In the absence of Sergio Parisse, Zanni has done a decent job. However, at the weekend, he comes up against a player who was not only outstanding against Wales last weekend, but who benefits from the work of his fellow back-rowers in Kelly Brown and John Barclay.

Prediction:
Scotland certainly has the game to beat Italy. However, they need quick ball and they need to take their chances. In Cardiff last week, they blew 14 points through careless handling and taking the wrong option. In the end they paid for it. Still, they should be too strong for Italy despite a number of enforced changes.

cruiserweight

Great first scrum by Scotland

dreamer_ire

Italy making the most of both opportunites so far

rebel girl 15

Italy turned over Scottish ball twice - definitely on top, well worth their 6 point lead

cruiserweight

Italy on top for the first 20 minutes, but I still think Scotland can win

rebel girl 15

Scotland finally on the scoreboard, Parks has bought Scotland back into a bit, playing territory a bit more

rebel girl 15

6-6, Dan Parks: 101 international points now.

pappyodaniel

I'd pick Scotland FTW.

If they can survive the initial bluff and bluster from a turbo-charged Italy and keep the scoreboard ticking over I can see them winning by 8.

dreamer_ire

Can see them winning by more than that tbh. Pearson just cost them a try there. Can't understand why he wouldn't let them play on when he wasn't gonna show a yellow to Sole for a blatant profession foul. Shocking stuff!

pappyodaniel

The Scottish kicking game is very good, they seem to be able to find space behind the Italians at every stage.

pappyodaniel

God Pearson has to be one of the worst int'l referees in the game. Terrible decision not to YC Sole for a professional foul.

thomond2006

9 - 9.

55 minutes gone.

Stev_o

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GET IN THERE

What a try!

Risteard

Fantastic try.

jd007

Great try.

thomond2006

What a brilliant try, the stadium goes wild.

Canavosio under the posts after a fantastic break from Canale.

Conversion scored.

Italy 16
Scotland 12

cruiserweight

Come on now Scotland

Aidric

Go on the Eyetalians. That was a sweet offload for the try.

2040

You've got to admire the Italians. No shortage of passion and grit. That goes for the fans too. Pity about the Magners League fiasco. Would have been good for the game in Italy.

Risteard

Fantastic defense.

thomond2006

Inspired defence by Italy there.

Aidric

2040 wrote: »

Pity about the Magners League fiasco. Would have been good for the game in Italy.

Has that not been sorted. I thought the Italians stumped up the 3 mil.

thomond2006

Craig Gower attempting a 50m penalty.

Massive kick.

Just fell short.

Celtic Rugby haven't confirmed if Italian sides are entering next season yet.

Sherifu

Great finish to this game.

Risteard

Dan Parks MOTM.

2040

Aidric wrote: »

Has that not been sorted. I thought the Italians stumped up the 3 mil.

You're right actually. Never read that.

thomond2006

Italy running down the clock in Scotland half.

Shocking MOTM decision. :rolleyes:

Aidric

Italy were good value for that win, good on 'em.

cruiserweight

Exciting end, game over now. Well done Italy

cruiserweight

thomond2006 wrote: »

Shocking MOTM decision. :rolleyes:

Who got it?

thomond2006

Fair play to Italy.

amacachi

I know I'm always asking stupid questions on here, but why was that a penalty to Italy at the end? It looked to me that there were 2 Scottish players there so was it not a ruck?

Sherifu

Fair play to Italy.

Aidric

amacachi wrote: »

I know I'm always asking stupid questions on here, but why was that a penalty to Italy at the end? It looked to me that there were 2 Scottish players there so was it not a ruck?

Player on the ground holding on. Two Italian players on their feet.

Risteard

amacachi wrote: »

I know I'm always asking stupid questions on here, but why was that a penalty to Italy at the end? It looked to me that there were 2 Scottish players there so was it not a ruck?

Looks like the tackler got his hands on the ball before the ruck started so he's allowed to try and compete. If he had been rucked off the ball then it wouldn't have been a penalty.

sock puppet

cruiserweight wrote: »

Who got it?

Parks. Though I suppose him directing Canavosio to the try line did contribute towards Italy's win.

amacachi

Risteard wrote: »

Looks like the tackler got his hands on the ball before the ruck started so he's allowed to try and compete. If he had been rucked off the ball then it wouldn't have been a penalty.

Missed that, thought there was another Scottish player involved before he got his hands near the ball.

funky penguin

I though Bergamasco (winger...can't remember what his first name is....so similar!) was a contender for MOTM, created lots, hard work at breakdown and kicked all his chances.

cruiserweight

sock puppet wrote: »

Parks. Though I suppose him directing Canavosio to the try line did contribute towards Italy's win.

Oh really, that is suprising. They were quite critical of him on the BBC after the game, kicking was good but not much else.

Scotland had plenty of chances to score tries but came away with nothing, I can imagine that the team is pretty disconsolate they could have had two wins in the last two games and have nothing and look like finishing last.

delta_bravo

2040 wrote: »

You're right actually. Never read that.

Ironically the Scots are the biggest opponents of the Italians entering the ML. Andy Robinson was saying it would ruin the 'integrity' of the competition.

thomond2006

funky penguin wrote: »

I though Bergamasco (winger...can't remember what his first name is....so similar!) was a contender for MOTM, created lots, hard work at breakdown and kicked all his chances.

Mirco Bergamasco

funky penguin

Thats the sexy beast alright. Thought he played well today. Actually, I'm usually very impressed by him whenever I see him play.

His brother is the flanker(/scrum half) right?

thomond2006

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/8540486.stm

Two Italian select sides will enter next season's Magners League, according to Italian journalist Paulo Pacitti.

The league last year agreed in principle to admit two sides from Italy, but negotiations were understood to have stalled over funding.

"The Magners League accepted the invitation of the two Italian teams from 1 July 2010," Pacitti said.

"So, next year, Aironi of Viadana and Benetton will be formally invited to this championship."

Initially, Aironi were to be joined by Praetorians Roma in the new 12-team league, but the Federazione Italiana Rugby have decided to forward Benetton Rugby Treviso instead of Praetorians Roma.

"We hoped, since 2008, to have a much more competitive championship," added Pacitti on BBC Radio Scotland's Sports Weekly programme.

"We don't have a great competitive championship in Italy. We have slow games and we need to improve our rugby.

"So the chance to have two selections in a much more competitive championship like the Magners League is an instrument for the federation to allow their players, the young players in particular, to have competitive experience with the strongest teams, like the Scottish ones, the Welsh ones or the Irish ones.

"But they won't be two clubs because Benetton and Aironi must sign a protocol with the Italian Rugby Federation that forces them to reduce the number of overseas players, to have Italian young players in the team and they are also hoping to ask people who are now in England and France to come back."

The Magners League last week said that reports about a compromise having been reached with the Italians were premature.

JustinDee

. . . according to a journalist.

Believe it if announced. Not before.

thomond2006

JustinDee wrote: »

. . . according to a journalist.

Believe it if announced. Not before.

I never said I believed it.

Angus Og

Real question is, what do you think? I mean regardless of the truth. Would you like to see them join?