The first of Saturday’s three Round 5 fixtures will see the third-place Scots take on cellar-dwellers, Italy.
Scotland v Italy
Saturday 18 March
12:30
Murrayfield
Scotland 2/13 | Draw 33/1 | Italy 15/4
Handicap
Scotland (-15.5) 10/11 | Italy (+15.5) 3/4
Round 4 didn’t produce the upset Scottish fans were looking for with a bang in form Ireland side getting the better of the Thistles running out 7-22 victors in Glasgow.
While it was a rather comfortable victory for the tournament leaders, the Scots did have their moments in the game with centre Huw Jones scoring a try on 16-minutes to hand his side a 7-3 lead. The Scots then put in a monumental defensive effort to only allow Ireland in for one unconverted try prior to the half-time break.
That courageous defensive effort would eventually leave Gregor Townsend’s men running on fumes and the Irish took full advantage of it during the latter parts of the second stanza to ensure they ran out 7-22 victors.
While their opponents for this weekend were pretty impressive in defeat, the same cannot be said about the Italians who put in their worst showing of the campaign while going 17-29 to a wounded Welsh outfit.
An unlucky bounce of the ball and then a very poor defensive effort saw the Azzurri ship 15 points in the opening quarter of the fixture. A late try from a rolling maul would extend the Welsh’s lead to 19 points at half-time.
There would be a ray of sunshine on an otherwise rather gloomy day for the Italians as they managed to score 14 points in the second-half while only shipping seven to the Welsh.
While the teams are yet to be announced, we can expect a multitude of changes for both sides as they look to give fringe players and possible World Cup bolters a run before France 2023.
I really do like the brand of rugby the hosts are playing at the moment, and while the Irish nullified their attack last weekend I can’t see the Italians doing that this Saturday.
As such, I’m on the hosts to clear the handicap.
