Italy hold firm to stun Scotland in Six Nations opener in Rome

Head coach Gregor Townsend has been backed by the Scottish Rugby Union, but even they must be having their doubts after they succumbed to another disappointing defeat.

The Azzurri opened up a 12-0 lead through Louis Lynagh and Tommaso Menoncello and then effectively held on as conditions worsened at the Stadio Olimpico.

They never let that lead slip despite the visitors scoring tries through Jack Dempsey and George Horne as a pair of Paolo Garbisi penalties kept their opponents at arm’s length.

Townsend has found himself under pressure after never really taking his side to the heights expected, and their weaknesses were exposed by the Azzurri.

The head coach decided to leave top try-scorers Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham out of the XV due, in part, to their issues in the air.

In-form Glasgow Warriors duo Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie therefore started, but those two were partly at fault for a couple of Italy scores in the opening 15 minutes.

Gonzalo Quesada's men were excellent in retaining the ball from their kicks, while the Scottish backfield was completely disorganised.

The hosts duly took advantage of that as a Juan Ignacio Brex grubber was collected and scored by Lynagh with no opposition player in sight.

Italy then scored again a few minutes later when Lynagh recovered a high ball and the Azzurri sent it left where the dangerous Menoncello was lurking.

The hugely talented youngster duly did the rest, outpacing the opposition’s cover defence and touching down.

After a poor start, they needed a response and, to their credit, Scotland did just that. In difficult conditions, their handling was exceptional and it led to a series of Italian infringements.

Under pressure, the Azzurri eventually succumbed and Dempsey crossed the whitewash to get them back into the game.

Townsend's team could not build on that, though, and as the weather came down, it was all about which side did the fundamentals better.

For the next 20 minutes, it was the Italians who did that and Garbisi’s penalty extended their buffer at the interval.

It was going to be a difficult challenge to overturn that deficit in the rain and it almost got worse at the start of the second period when a fortuitous deflection landed in the arms of Menoncello, who broke free.

Scotland scrambled to avoid conceding and then went up the other end to go through the phases and earn a penalty, which Russell converted.

It brought them to within the crucial converted try but they were back out of range moments later when a Garbisi three-pointer restored Italy's buffer.

Matters then worsened for the visitors when they had George Turner sin-binned for a poor clearout on Manuel Zuliani. A bad day for the Scottish hookers – Ewan Ashman had a shocker at the lineout – therefore got worse with Turner's indiscretion.

While they handled the sin-bin period well enough, preventing further damage, the conditions were making it incredibly difficult to create chances.

That was providing both sides kept their discipline but, but after Turner returned, Italy conceded a needless infringement – not their first of the day – and Scotland took advantage.

They set up a five-metre maul and, although the initial drive was stopped, Horne found just enough space to cross the whitewash and give them hope.

However, that deficit proved insurmountable as the hosts managed to hold on, despite a desperate and dramatic late attack from Scotland, to begin their Six Nations campaign with a superb victory.