Finn Russell frustration as Scotland talisman makes Italy performance admission and Gregor Townsend has say
Scotland took maximum points from their Six Nations opener against Italy but Finn Russell has warned that they will need to be a lot better if they are to challenge for the title.
A hat-trick from Huw Jones was the highlight as Gregor Townsend’s side defeated the Italians 31-19 at Murrayfield. There were also tries from Rory Darge and Ben White in the bonus-point victory but the visitors gave the Scots a scare early in the second half.
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Hide AdItaly clawed back a 19-6 deficit to draw level at 19-19 thanks largely to a try from Juan Ignacio Brex after a mistake by Russell before two tries in five minutes from Jones put Scotland back in the driving seat.
It’s Ireland up next for the Scots and Russell is under no illusions about the tougher tests that lie ahead if they are to end their 26-year title drought.


“It was good to battle at the end for the win but we'll need to be a lot better if we want to do anything in this tournament,” said the Scotland co-captain, who threw an intercept pass to Brex for the Italian try.
"For me personally my mistake was frustrating. The mistakes, the looseness we had, were probably individual [errors] which will be easier to fix. We'll come back Monday or Tuesday and sort a few things out.
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Hide Ad“Huw was outstanding today. I thought Stafford [McDowall] was really good at 12 as well. The backs worked really well together, created a lot of chances and if we're going to do anything in this tournament we have to try and finish those off. There were probably four of five tries we left out there.”
While not entirely satisfied with the performance, Townsend was pleased to open with a bonus-point win and also felt that the stress Italy put his team under in the second half would stand them in good stead.
“It’s positive that we started with a win and that we managed to score five tries, so got maximum points,” said Townsend. “To go through that test when we were leading for most of the game and then go 19-all and come through it, that's going to prepare us really well for the tests that are going to come. There are going to be times where the opposition get momentum, the opposition get scores, but today it didn't affect the players' belief in what they needed to do to get the win.”


Scotland made a fast start and were 14-0 ahead after eight minutes through tries from Darge and Jones, both converted by Russell. Tommaso Allan, the Italy full-back, kept the visitors in touch with a couple of penalties but Ben White’s try put Scotland 19-6 up later in the first half. The lead was cut to 19-9 just before half-time thanks to Allan’s third penalty and Murrayfield was stunned when Brex’s try, converted by Allan, drew Italy level.
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Hide Ad“I don't think it was a drop-off [in Scotland’s performance],” said Townsend. “They scored an intercept try. We had a couple of opportunities in the 22 where they turned us over and they brought more line speed in their defence and got rewarded with the try and there was another occasion they shut us down. So you have to adjust.
“Teams are going to get moments where they're in control or scoring points and Italy are a good team. It was a runaway try so it wasn't as if they had a lot of pressure on our line. But they did have pressure on our line in the last ten minutes and I was really pleased with how we defended them and made sure Italy didn't score any more points.”
Townsend praised the performance of Jones and also made mention of the work done by Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham who both set up a try for the centre. The two wingers are Scotland’s all-time leading try-scorers but turned providers on this occasion.
“Huw offers himself on brilliant lines that sometimes fix defences and other people get the space,” said Townsend. “He supports really well and today the ball found him. It was through his work off the ball.
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Hide Ad“With our wingers, everybody wants the narrative to be that they're chasing a try-scoring record, but they put passes in for assists like they did against Australia.”


Gonzalo Quesada, the Italy coach, felt his team failed to capitalise on the momentum they had generated when they got back level but he conceded that Scotland were worthy winners in the end.
“At 19-19 there was a little momentum shift,” said Quesada. “The key moment was that after a nice attack for us, we lost the ball from a scrum and then they scored from a try.
“We knew that if after an hour we were in the game, Scotland should feel the pressure of needing to win this one. And before we could take them to that moment of doubt, they scored that try.
“The crowd had been a bit silent, but they woke up and the team woke up and it became tougher for us to score. Scotland deserved the win. They did what they needed to dominate us in the key moments.”
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