After the heart-breaking first round loss to Australia on Friday, Scotland got their IRB Under 21 World Championship campaign back on track with a solid 26-10 win over Italy.
The Scots scored four tries in the match to also pick up a valuable bonus point.
Playing in the sapping 34-degree heat, John Jeffrey's side was quick off the mark when Cameron Johnston was fed by Kennedy to score a try after two minutes and the same player scored again five minutes later for an early 12-0 lead.
To their credit, though, the Italians fought back bravely, their pack getting to grips with the Scots and their backs stringing together multiple phases of play but the rest of an attritional first period brought no further score.
The heat, however, saw Scotland struggle to maintain their level and the Italians came back to within two points after kicking a penalty and adding a converted try.
With only four minutes to go, though, Scotland were awarded a penalty try, and then Ben Cairns intercepted and raced away to score their fourth to seal the win and the all-important bonus point.
After the heart-breaking first round loss to Australia on Friday, Scotland got their IRB Under 21 World Championship campaign back on track with a solid 26-10 win over Italy.
The Scots scored four tries in the match to also pick up a valuable bonus point.
Playing in the sapping 34-degree heat, John Jeffrey's side was quick off the mark when Cameron Johnston was fed by Kennedy to score a try after two minutes and the same player scored again five minutes later for an early 12-0 lead.
To their credit, though, the Italians fought back bravely, their pack getting to grips with the Scots and their backs stringing together multiple phases of play but the rest of an attritional first period brought no further score.
The heat, however, saw Scotland struggle to maintain their level and the Italians came back to within two points after kicking a penalty and adding a converted try.
With only four minutes to go, though, Scotland were awarded a penalty try, and then Ben Cairns intercepted and raced away to score their fourth to seal the win and the all-important bonus point.
Quotes
Alberto Saccardo, captain Italy: We weren't organised enough and we'll be better against Fiji.
Marzio Zanato, Italy coach: We made too many mistakes and some bad tactical decisions, most notably in the first 15 minutes.
David Blair, Scotland captain: We won and that's the most important thing. It was hot out there and the heat took a lot out of us. They came back at us but out defence held firm.
John Jeffrey, Scotland manager: We struggled in the searing heat and to build ourselves up again after putting in all that effort against Australia in the last match to win only one bonus point. We got two easy tries early on and perhaps lost concentration a bit but thankfully we pressed hard at the end and got the tries. We didn’t play well and it wasn’t pretty but we set out to win with a bonus point and that’s exactly what we’ve done.
Alberto Saccardo, captain Italy: We weren't organised enough and we'll be better against Fiji.
Marzio Zanato, Italy coach: We made too many mistakes and some bad tactical decisions, most notably in the first 15 minutes.
David Blair, Scotland captain: We won and that's the most important thing. It was hot out there and the heat took a lot out of us. They came back at us but out defence held firm.
John Jeffrey, Scotland manager: We struggled in the searing heat and to build ourselves up again after putting in all that effort against Australia in the last match to win only one bonus point. We got two easy tries early on and perhaps lost concentration a bit but thankfully we pressed hard at the end and got the tries. We didn’t play well and it wasn’t pretty but we set out to win with a bonus point and that’s exactly what we’ve done.