Italy 31-29 ScotlandVarney’s second-half try proves crucial as Italy win in Rome
Two teams with an appetite to run it from deep. A packed out Stadio Olimpico for the first time in a Six Nations game since 2016. Beautiful Roman sunshine washing over a pristine carpet of green. This sport is often a slog in the mud but sometimes, as it was here, it’s a thing of beauty. Whirring limbs and dancing feet and silky touches and delicate kicks. Italy edged it with a thrilling 31-29 victory, but Scotland played their part in the show. It might sound corny, but rugby really was the ultimate winner.
Of course, that will be scant consolation to Scotland, who were magnificent in parts, particularly in the opening 20 minutes when George Horne at scrum-half kept the ball fizzing at a frenetic pace. But rather than prove that they’re a different sort of Scotland, one that takes aim at Triple Crowns and top-two finishes in the Championship, they succumbed to an Italian team that is now unquestionably a force on the rise.