Monthly Archives: October 2024

Scotland: Jamie Ritchie eyes strong Six Nations finish against Italy that would wrap up third spot

Jamie Ritchie believes victory over Italy, which would secure a third-place finish, would constitute a positive Six Nations campaign for Scotland.

Scotland kicked off the Championship in impressive style with wins over England and Wales before their title charge was derailed by France and Ireland.

Despite the chance of Six Nations glory now having gone, skipper Ritchie insists there is still plenty at stake as they prepare to tackle Italy at Murrayfield.

Hoping for a strong finish

“I outlined our goal of five good performances, and I think we’re at three and a half just now,” said the flanker. “To get it up to four and a half would be good, so we’re looking for a strong performance. To secure that third place outright would be a positive.

“We shouldn’t change our application based on the opposition. For us, it’s about maintaining the same standards and trying to put out our best performance, which I don’t think we’ve done yet.

“I don’t think we’ve put out that complete 80-minute performance, so tomorrow’s the day, hopefully.”

Three wins out of five would be a solid return for Scotland, and Ritchie feels that would create strong foundations ahead of the Rugby World Cup this year.

“Arguably against France, for the majority of the game, we were the team in the ascendancy,” he stressed, gaining confidence from his side’s performance. “We put ourselves under pressure with a slow start, but for huge parts of that game, I certainly believed we could go on and win it.

“There will be a huge amount of positives to take out of the tournament.”

No wins thus far for Italy

Their opponents on Saturday have had a difficult campaign in terms of results, but their showings have impressed Ritchie, who is wary of the Azzurri.

“They’ll be frustrated that they’ve played a lot of really good rugby and run a couple of good teams close but not converted that into results,” he said.

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“They come here with nothing to lose. They’re always a passionate team, but there might be a little bit more passion because they enjoy playing against us; they target this game.

“We know there will be a challenge coming against potentially the best Italy team we’ve ever played, so we need to be ready.”

Six Nations: Wales claim bonus-point win over wasteful Italy to move off bottom spot

Wales picked up their first victory of the 2023 Six Nations campaign after they beat Italy 29-17 in Rome, exacting revenge for last year’s defeat.

Tries from Rio Dyer, Liam Williams and Taulupe Faletau were added to by a penalty try as Warren Gatland’s men secured a priceless bonus point win.

Sebastian Negri and Ignacio Brex crossed in defeat for Italy, who will lament a series of costly errors as it was a wasteful performance from the hosts.

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Wales head to Paris next for a Six Nations appointment with France and, while that assignment is a daunting one, they can at least travel with a degree of confidence after claiming a first win since Gatland returned for his second stint as head coach.

Gatland made six changes to the side beaten by England last time out, with scrum-half Rhys Webb handed a first Test start since October 2020, while there were also call-ups for Liam Williams, Dyer, Wyn Jones, Dafydd Jenkins and Jac Morgan.

Italy were without injured playmaker Ange Capuozzo, so Harlequins fly-half Tommaso Allan featured at full-back in a solitary switch following the Azzurri’s battling display against Ireland two weeks ago.

Wales started brightly in glorious conditions, creating quick possession and looking to attack in wide channels before fly-half Owen Williams kicked them ahead through a sixth-minute penalty.

Italy looked lethargic and nervous in comparison and Wales extended their lead with a ninth-minute try.

Webb kicked over the top of Italy’s defence and Dyer made the most of a kind bounce to gather before sprinting over. Williams’ conversion opened up a 10-0 lead and the visitors were off to a flying start.

Italy needed a response and it arrived through an Allan penalty after 16 minutes, yet Wales were immediately back on the front foot.

Their attacking game had a real urgency about it, but a second try inside the opening quarter owed everything to Liam Williams’ individual brilliance.

Receiving the ball a metre from the touchline, Williams beat five Italy defenders as he cut back inside on a stunning run at pace and Wales retained control of the contest, 15-3 in front.

Italy tested Wales via a long-range counter-attack, but they were denied a try by Owen Williams’ superb tackle on Brex.

Williams then kicked Wales deep into the Italian 22 and a powerful lineout drive resulted in Italy illegally collapsing a maul.

Referee Damon Murphy awarded Wales a penalty try and yellow-carded Italy number eight Lorenzo Cannone, with the visitors taking a 22-3 lead into half-time.

Italy served notice of their quality by scoring a try just three minutes after the restart when Allan’s clever kick into space was collected by Negri, who finished strongly.

Allan’s conversion cut the deficit to 12 points, but Italy then saw a second player yellow-carded after wing Pierre Bruno led with his arm into Wales prop Jones’ throat.

And Wales punished their hosts when Webb broke clear and delivered a scoring pass to Faletau, with Williams’ conversion opening up a 29-10 lead and securing a bonus point.

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Liam Williams was forced off injured 19 minutes from time, being replaced by George North, with North’s fellow replacement Louis Rees-Zammit moving to full-back.

Italy, despite their deficit, had not given up the ghost and they claimed a second try after 67 minutes.

Bruno ran strongly at the heart of Wales’ defence and support runner Brex finished off the move, with Allan’s conversion making it 29-17, but that was as close as Italy could get.