SCOTLAND gained a deserved win over Italy in Rome to put an emphatic end to a run of nine successive defeats in the Six Nations Championship. Vern Cotter’s team were well on top for much of the first half, and at one point led 17-3.

But they had to withstand a fierce Italian fightback, and were under severe pressure after Finn Russell was sinbinned just inside the final quarter. WP Nel followed the stand-off into the bin, but despite late Italian pressure, Tommy Seymour secured the win with a try in the last minutes.

For the second game running, Scotland made a late change to their starting line-up. David Denton dropped out because of a groin strain he picked up during yesterday’s team run, and Ryan Wilson replaced him at No 8. Josh Strauss, who had played almost all of Glasgow’s win against the Dragons on Thursday night, came on to the bench as a late replacement.

Two weeks ago it was Sean Maitland who dropped out after being injured. Sean Lamont came in on that occasion, but on the other wing, with Tommy Seymour switching to the right, where Maitland would have played. Wales stuck to their original game plan of bombarding the right wing with high balls, only to find that Seymour dealt with them magnificently.

The obvious risk to Scotland here was that an early injury to a member of the back row would force Strauss to play a greater portion of the game than he would be comfortable with. Fortunately, there was no such mishap, and the most salient feature of the opening minutes was the superiority of the Scottish scrum.

It was Italy who took the lead, with an eighth-minute Kelly Haimona penalty awarded against John Barclay for not releasing in the tackle. But Scotland soon hit back, and went in front thanks to a try from Barclay himself.

After a half-break by Jonny Gray through the middle, the ball went left, first to Tim Visser then on to Stuart Hogg. The full-back was held by his opposite number, but popped up the ball for Barclay to collect and go over. Greig Laidlaw added the two points.

With just over quarter of an hour played, the visitors got their second try, again out on the left. Russell and Barclay were again involved in the build-up through the middle, then Ryan Wilson attacked to the left and passed to John Hardie, who forced his way over from 10 metres out. Laidlaw was again on target to take the score to 14-3.

The captain added a penalty after 25 minutes to emphasise Scotland’s domination of the contest. With a 17-3 lead, they could not lose this time, could they?

Minutes later, Italy reduced the deficit with their first try. It was a well-worked move, finished off close to the left corner by Leonardo Ghiraldini, but there had to be concern in the Scots defence at the ease with which several tackles were broken in the build-up. Haimona converted, and suddenly that commanding lead looked a lot more precarious at 17-10.

The score remained the same at half-time, with a Laidlaw penalty attempt going wide in the last kick of the half. The scrum-half had another chance five minutes into the second half, however, and this time was on the mark from 30 metres out to give his team a ten-point advantage. Italy were far from alert from the restart, and came close to scoring a second try before they had to settle for a penalty, dinked over by Haimona from in front of the posts. Laidlaw soon took the gap back to ten with his third successful penalty of the day, but the match still lay in the balance as it approached its final quarter.

A promising attack by the home team was ended when Edoardo Gori knocked on, but it was an ominous sign that Italy were playing to a higher tempo and getting more penetration. Again, though, the boot of Laidlaw helped retain some breathing space for Scotland, as another penalty made it 26-13.

With less than 20 minutes to play, Italy again came close to claiming another try. Again they were stopped illegally, and this time Russell was yellow-carded for putting his hands into a ruck. The Italians ran the penalty, eventually second-row Marco Fuser plunged over, and after referee Jaco Peyper referred the incident to the Television Match Official the score was given. Haimona converted: 20-26.

Then Laidlaw added another three points with a long-range effort to relieve the pressure, but Italy immediately went back on the attack. Strauss replaced Wilson with a dozen minutes to go, not long after Stuart McInally had come on for Ross Ford in Scotland’s first change.

Italy kept pressing, but a defiant defence first held them at bay, and then, just after Russell returned, won a penalty from a scrum on their own five-metre line. That successful defence proved crucial, as the Scots fought back in the last few minutes

to wrap up the win through Seymour’s try, the scoring pass coming from Hogg.

They had to do so with 14 men when WP Nel became the second Scot to see yellow, ,

ITALY: Try: Ghiraldini, Fuser. Cons: Haimona 2. Pens: Haimona 2.

SCOTLAND: Tries: Barclay, Hardie, Seymour. Cons: Laidlaw 3. Pens: Laidlaw 5.

Italy: D Odiete; L Sarto, M Campagnaro, G Garcia (A Pratichetti 77), M Bellini; K Haimona, E Gori; A Lovotti (M Zanusso 58), L Ghiraldini (D Giazzon 58), L Cittadini (M Castrogiovanni 58), M Fuser, J Furno (V Bernabo 38), F Minto (A van Schalkwyk 68), A Zanni, S Parisse. Unused substitutes: G Palazzani, E Padovani.

Scotland: S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett (P Horne 63), D Taylor, T Visser (S Lamont 72); F Russell, G Laidlaw; A Dickinson, R Ford (S McInally 64), W Nel, R Gray (T Swinson 77), J Gray, J Barclay (M Low 77), J Hardie, R Wilson (J Strauss 68). Unused substitutes: R Sutherland, S Hidalgo-Clyne.

Referee: J Peyper (South Africa).