15. Greig Tonks: 5
Moved from fly-half to full-back and looked far more convincing at 15. Solid under the high ball but was fairly anonymous when Scotland were going forward. His inexperience shone through at times, and incumbent full-back Stuart Hogg will not be feeling threatened.
14. Sean Lamont: 5.5
One of Scotland’s standout performers against Ireland, but didn’t maintain that high standard against Italy. Lamont can always be relied upon to come off his wing and provide some strong carries, and his slick offload sparked Scotland’s only try. In defence, though, he frequently allowed his opposite number to turn the corner against him.
13. Richie Vernon: 5
The midfield was largely anonymous. Vernon’s defence was good, but it is hard to get too excited about the standard of Scotland’s centre pairing, especially when it is likely that Vernon will get a look in when Vern Cotter cuts his squad to 31.
12. Matt Scott: 6
Of the Scotland three-quarters, Scott arguably had the biggest impact on the game. In the absence of Stuart Hogg’s cutting edge, his bullish carrying was vital for Scotland, and he kept calm to set up Henry Pyrgos for the try. A sure shot for the World Cup squad.
11. Rory Hughes: 5.5
Winning his first international cap, Hughes showed, at the very least, an excellent motor and levels of determination and energy that the majority of his Scotland counterparts failed to match. He chased every kick and put in some weighty tackles. In a better game and given more ball, he could provide some much-needed excitement to the backline.
10. Duncan Weir: 6
Kicked very well. Ultimately it was his goal-kicking that kept Scotland in this game and whatever role Weir plays in the World Cup, his ability to convert penalties into points will be highly valued by Scotland, who may struggle to consistently cross the try-line. Unfortunately, he barely showed his face in open play and while he didn’t have any particular slip-ups, the word uninspiring could definitely be levelled at his game.
9. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne: 7
The single bright spark amongst the backs, the Edinburgh scrum-half ran the game for Scotland, in particular in the first half. Although he was substituted for Henry Pyrgos, who scored the winning try and has stolen the majority of the headlines over the past two weeks, Hidalgo-Clyne showed all the skills needed to be Scotland’s future ninr. His kicking game was perfect, relieving the pressure in Scotland’s half, and keeping Italy on the back foot with some smart box-kicks to the corners. Mistakes did come later in the game, but these were a sign of frustration, and Hidalgo-Clyne’s first start showed that Cotter could have a Cusiter/Blair-esque position battle on his hands in a few years time.
1. Gordon Reid: 5
Part of a front row that struggled to withstand Italian pressure at the scrum. Around the park, he was constantly involved without being particularly impactful. A useful fill-in for the recovering Ryan Grant, but there was little to separate Reid from the rest of Scotland’s front-row options.
2. Stuart McInally: 6.5
Another Scottish debutant, McInally threw excellently at the line-out, displaying clear chemistry with Richie Gray. This will stand him in good stead as Cotter names his squad, as will his speed to the breakdown. With time, he could become a regular part of the Scotland set-up.
3. Mike Cusack: 5
Much of what I said for Gordon Reid can be applied to Cusack. The Scottish pack gave away too many penalties at the scrum, and it only stopped once replacements were made. Cotter seems to have identified Cusack as part of the problem, as he was swapped for Willem Nel after 46 minutes.
4. Richie Gray: 7
Despite his experience and popularity, Richie Gray needed an impressive performance in this game following a disappointing Six Nations campaign. The France-based second row was brilliant at the line-out, connecting well with Stuart McInally and posing a constant threat on the Italian throw-in. Although we weren’t treated to any of his trademark rampaging carries, Gray looked like what he is: one of the strongest players in the Scotland squad.
5. Jim Hamilton: 5
This is not a word that can often be applied to the six foot eight Hamilton, but he was invisible. In a similar way to Sean Lamont, Hamilton is one of the players who Scotland look towards to lead from the front and carry the squad through attritional scrappy games like this. Hamilton’s place in the team is not in question, but what we saw in Turin, showed that Hamilton might not be able to lock down a starting spot like he once did.
6. Alasdair Strokosch: 7
Strokosch’s combination of thunderous defence and hard-nosed carrying make him one of Scotland’s stand-out performers. Along with John Hardie, he formed a formidable flanker partnership in defence, but wasn’t able to either secure ball at the ruck for Scotland or create turnovers at the Italian breakdown. From an individual standpoint, Strokosch was excellent but as a unit, Scotland’s back row came up short at the breakdown.
7. John Hardie: 6.5
Hardie’s defence was excellent. He wasted no time in making his mark on the Italian ball-carriers, but the pressure (or lack thereof) he put on Tommaso Allan gave the Italian back-line too much time to play the ball. This led to Italy’s first-half line breaks and allowed them to stay in the game despite their high error count. The blame for this can’t solely be laid upon Hardie’s shoulders and on the whole he can be happy with his debut performance.
8. Adam Ashe: 6
Looked strong with the ball in hand and shook off several knocks over the course of the game. I can’t help but feel Ashe was one of the players who would really have benefitted from a standout performance to lock him into the squad. The back row is one of Scotland’s most competitive position groups and while Ashe was sufficient, he didn’t seem to grab the opportunity with both hands.
Replacements: 6.5
The Scottish bench can thank Peter Horne for this relatively generous rating. The replacement centre picked up exactly where he left off last week, making Scotland’s only meaningful line breaks of the game within minutes of taking the field. He was able to turn the corner on the left hand side, starting the move that resulted in Henry Pyrgos’ try.
Talking of Pyrgos, what really comes across in the scrum half’s performances is his maturity, that belies his relatively small collection of Scotland caps. His positioning for the winning try was vintage scrum-half play, and Pyrgos’ consistency gives Vern Cotter four scrum-halves who could easily start. Elsewhere, Hamish Watson came on and made an instant impact with the ball in hand, as did Alasdair Dickinson. However, the overall impression from this warm-up game was that, with the exception of a few stars, Vern Cotter has a great deal of ‘good’ in his squad, but a meagre amount of ‘great’.
By Fraser Kay (@fraserkay)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
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