Scotland set themselves up for the imminent Rugby World Cup with a 23-12 win over Italy in the EMC Test at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Andy Robinson's team were made to fight all the way by a typically combative Italian outfit, but tries from Alasdair Dickinson and Mike Blair helped secure a second straight August success on home turf ahead of the Scots' departure for the global gathering in New Zealand next month.
Scotland made a bright start to the game on a beautiful summer's evening, Rory Lamont making one of his trademark breaks from deep with the move being taken on by Richie Vernon. The Italian defence was cut adrift and forced into conceding a penalty for side-entry at the ruck. Dan Parks duly slotted the first points of the game from a position to the right of centre.
As in the EMC Test win over Ireland a fortnight ago, Scotland brought tempo and purpose to the opening quarter, but crucially this time they also showed a cutting edge.
The Murrayfield crowd were on their feet 10 minutes in as Max Evans wriggled his way into space on the right, and found the onrushing Dickinson with a smart offload. The prop was rewarded for his foresight and alertness with a first international score. Parks slotted the conversion to maintain Scotland's point-a-minute beginning.
Robinson's team didn't have it all their own way, however. With their first attack of note, Italy got on the scoreboard. After a solid scrum deep in their own half, inspirational captain Sergio Parisse made a half-break before offloading to scrum-half Fabio Semenzato.
A further couple of phases later, Andrea Masi got away another smart pass out of contact, and right winger Tommaso Benvenuti touched the afterburners to accelerate away from the cover and score.
Mirco Bergamasco's conversion nudged Italy to within three points but the wide man passed up an opportunity to tie the scores by missing what looked a fairly straightforward penalty a couple of minutes before the interval.
Parks made his fellow kicker pay dearly for this error, banging over a penalty of his own from right in front of the posts after Parisse went offside trying to block a preceding drop-goal attempt.
The game took on a scrappy quality after the interval, as both sides struggled to impose themselves in attack. That was until the Azzurri pilfered a try out of nothing as Scotland got themselves into unnecessary difficulty down their left, presenting Semenzato with the chance to wriggle through a thicket of bodies and smuggle himself over the line.
The visitors couldn't add the extras, but the tide looked to have turned in their favour. Scotland were having none of it, though, and Blair fired them back into control with a wonderfully opportunistic score.
The scrum-half had shown an abundance of energy and appetite all afternoon, and capped this work by thundering towards Andrea Masi as the Italy full-back looked to clear his lines from deep. Blair managed to charge down the kick emphatically, before pouncing on the loose ball and touching it down.
Parks's conversion, and long-range penalty minutes later, meant the game had been turned on its head afresh, the Scots now holding an 11-point advantage. Parks had the chance to increase this lead with a further penalty, but sent the effort marginally wide of the right-hand upright.
The award came about when Italy went over the top in the wake of a tremendous break from Nick De Luca, who built on his late cameo in the Ireland game to produce an impressive all-round display here.
De Luca was announced as the deserving recipient of the EMC Man of the Match award as Scotland closed out the game with relative comfort.
Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Simon Danielli (22 Nikki Walker 54min), 10 Dan Parks (21 Ruaridh Jackson 62min), 9 Mike Blair (20 Chris Cusiter 61min), 8 Richie Vernon (19 Ross Rennie 75min), 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (capt), 4 Nathan Hines (18 Richie Gray 62min), 3 Moray Low (17 Euan Murray 54min), 2 Scott Lawson (16 Dougie Hall 71min), 1 Alasdair Dickinson.
Substitutes: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Euan Murray, 18 Richie Gray, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Ruaridh Jackson, 22 Nikki Walker.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale (20 Edoardo Gori 77min), 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera (21 Riccardo Bocchino 57min), 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Paul Derbyshire (22 Alessandro Zanni 63min), 5 Cornelius Van Zyl, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava (Joshua Furno 50min), 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro (Tommaso D'Apice h-t), 1 Andrea Lo Cicero (17 Lorenzo Cittadini 71min).
Substitutes: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Joshua Furno, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Alessandro Zanni.
Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU)
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