TOPS
For his first selection, Louis Lynagh has already won the hearts of the Italians thanks to his remarkable try, which was decisive in the turn of the match won 31-29 by the locals. Barely back from the locker room, Quesada’s men got back on track, and Paolo Garbisi had the good idea to launch the new kid on a superb kick pass. The son of Australian legend Michael Lynagh grabbed the ball and went off to score his first try for the Nazionale, accompanied by cheers, followed by the explosion at the Stadio Olimpico. With this realization, Italy launched its revolt, and set out to seek a long-awaited victory.
It has been since March 19, 2022, and a match at the Millennium Stadium against Wales, that Italy has last tasted victory in the Tournament. This Saturday afternoon against Scotland at home, the entire Stadio Olimpico felt that the feat was doable. And after coming very close to winning in Lille, in a very encouraging draw against the XV of France, we should not miss out. However, the Thistle players started very strongly by scoring 3 tries in the first half. But thanks to penalties scored by Garbisi and one scored by Page-Relo at the end of the period, the Italians stayed in the game (16-22 at half-time). So that hope combined with a burst of pride was enough to topple a Scottish team, and, finally, the Azzurri won a home game in the Tournament. A historic success in Rome, where Italy had not won for eleven years and, already, a first against Ireland (22-15), on March 16, 2013. A prolific Tournament for the Nazionale, led by Jacques Brunel, who also dominated the French XV in Rome.
FLOPS
From the start, Townsend’s men responded to the opponent’s opening score, by scoring two tries in quick succession in the 5th and 11th minute of play. Led by an inspired Finn Russell, evidenced by his good inspiration to go for a touch from 10 meters, causing the try of Pierre Schoeman (29th), the Scots seemed untouchable. But they gave the Italians hope by offering two penalties, before liquefying in the second act, not scoring a single point before the last 5 minutes of the match. Despite Skinner’s goal late in the match, they woke up too late to turn the game around and dream of the title.
With this poor performance in the second half, the Thistle XV definitively said goodbye to the Six Nations trophy. Second in the standings with 11 points, they had to win this Saturday and wait for an England victory over Ireland at Twickenham, and mathematically it was still possible. But in reality, they themselves stopped themselves from dreaming. There will therefore be no “final” at the Aviva Stadium on March 16.