Kinghorn hat-trick helps Scotland beat Italy
Guiness 6 Nations
Scotland 33-20 Italy
Blair Kinghorn scored a brilliant hat-trick as Scotland powered to a 33-20 win over Italy at Murrayfield to make the perfect start to the Six Nations.
On the day that Sergio Parisse broke the record for the most appearances in the Championship, overtaking Brian O’Driscoll with 66, it was a man who was just seven on the great Italian’s Six Nations bow who stole the show.
Kinghorn crossed twice in the first half, before completing his treble before the hour to seal maximum points for the Scots and extend their Championship winning streak at Murrayfield to seven games.
Stuart Hogg crossed early in the second half, while Chris Harris came off the bench to get their fifth, although Italy finished well with three late tries to carry some momentum into next week’s clash with Wales.
Scotland threatened early on, with Grant Gilchrist denied a try after just three minutes. From a rolling maul, the second row got over the line, but after consultation with the TMO, there was a clear double movement and Italy earned the penalty.
Up the other end Jamie Ritchie was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Parisse, with Tommaso Allan making no mistake to give the visitors the lead.
Their advantage lasted barely two minutes, some clever play from Greig Laidlaw earning a turnover to give the Scots possession 30 metres out.
The ball was quickly shifted to Finn Russell who spotted space on the left and played a pinpoint cross-kick to Kinghorn, who collected before racing over.
He had his second on 20 minutes following a scrum five metres from the line. Initially shaping to go to the right, Laidlaw then switched play, with Russell and Hogg combining to draw in the defence before Kinghorn collected a bouncing ball to dive gleefully over for his second.
That would prove to be the final score of the half, with the Scots 12-3 to the good in what had been a hard-fought half.
Italy needed to start the second half quickly, but instead the Scots won the ball from the restart and were able to dominate possession and territory.
While the Italian defence held initially, eventually the Scots found the way through. Russell’s boot set it up once more, a little grubber through with Stuart Hogg quickest to graze the ball down. Laidlaw’s conversion made it 19-3 and effectively sealed the result.
Scotland needed one more for the bonus point, and Kinghorn provided it with his hat-trick score. After a great break by Jamie Ritchie, Scotland kept the ball alive with an offload to Laidlaw and then a powerful run through by Kinghorn. Laidlaw converted once more.
Gregor Townsend then rang the changes, and they paid dividends immediately as Harris crossed for his first Test try. It came from a searing Hogg break, and a phase later Russell’s delayed pass put Josh Strauss into space, and he in turn fed Harris for the easy finish. With Laidlaw off, Russell took over kicking duties and converted.
Italy had struggled to create a huge amount, but they finished strongly, starting to put Scotland under real pressure. After a succession of penalties close to the line, Simon Berghan was sin-binned and the Azzurri took immediate advantage.
Taking the quick tap penalty, Guglielmo Palazzani, only starting because of Tito Tebaldi’s late withdrawal, gave his forwards a chance to hammer away before sneaking over himself.
Allan’s conversion made it 33-10, before Hogg saw a sixth Scotland try ruled out for an obstruction that had allowed him to slice through once more.
Instead it was Italy who came back, with some slick handling ending with Federico Ruzza putting Edoardo Padovani over.
Ruzza was key once again for the third Italian try, picking and going after a ruck before offloading to Michele Campagnaro, who played the two-on-one perfectly to send Angelo Esposito over.
They tried to grab a fourth, that would have been worth two bonus points, but the Scots turned the ball over to seal the win.
