Late tries from Scott Cummings and George Turner secured Scotland a fifth straight Test match win with a hard-fought 28-17 victory away to Italy in the Autumn Nations Cup.
The Azzurri were on top for much of the contest thanks to Paolo Garbisi’s boot and Matteo Minozzi’s excellent first-half try.
But Scotland hit back with a second Test try for winger Duhan van der Merwe and rare score for prop Zander Fagerson, while Cummings’ dot down with just 13 minutes to go proved decisive in Florence.
Turner ensured there was no way back for Italy by touching down off the back of a driving maul with three minutes left, setting up next week’s clash with France perfectly.
AWESOME AZZURRI
Perhaps Italy’s most famous victory came at Stadio Artemio Franchi, the venue for their epic win against South Africa in 2016, and, buoyed by that, they made a fast start here.
Garbisi scored a penalty after just five minutes, after they won a scrum penalty when defending inside their own 22.
Scotland lost prop Rory Sutherland to injury inside 16 minutes after he went down at a scrum and Italy stretched their lead with a second Garbisi penalty shortly after.
Italy then won a penalty at the breakdown from the resulting kick-off, as Scotland struggled to get anything going.
However, they scored their first try of the tournament from the back of a driving maul midway through the first half. A lineout at the Italy five-metre line was well collected by Jonny Gray and they moved it left where Ali Price fizzed a pass to winger Van der Merwe to score.
Duncan Weir’s conversion put Scotland 7-6 up but the Azzurri hit straight back with a stunning try, as Marco Zanon powered through two tackles and found Marcello Violi, who shifted it to Mattia Bellini and then the supporting Minozzi to score.
Italy continued to excel at the breakdown, with prop Danilo Fischetti winning back-to-back breakdown penalties inside his own 22 to help them preserve their 11-7 lead to half time.
CUMMINGS DELIVERS
That lead grew again minutes into the second half as the accurate Garbisi booted through his third penalty.
Scotland looked to have responded minutes later when Chris Harris and Sam Johnson combined to send Weir through to score, only for the TMO to take a look and deem the final pass forwards.
However, the visitors did break through shortly after when Fagerson benefited from a fortunate ricochet and strolled in to score.
Scotland were on top but failed to take advantage due to some careless errors in possession, while Italy scored with their next attack as Garbisi added another penalty.
But they key moment came with 13 minutes left as Cummings muscled his way over from just a metre out following some sustained pressure in the 22.
Weir added the extras to make it 21-17 and Scotland controlled the clock from there before adding a late try from replacement Turner following a driving maul.
KEY MOMENT
There’s no disputing this one. Trailing by three points and struggling to penetrate Italy’s robust defence, Scotland looked in trouble with 13 minutes to go.
But Scott Cummings changed all that with a superb support line to crash over from a metre out. It put Scotland into a lead they would not relinquish.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Making 143 metres from just eight carries, winger Duhan van der Merwe was immense throughout.
The Edinburgh ace also grabbed his second try in just two Test matches with a predatory finish in the first half, and Italy struggled to contain him for the 80 minutes.
