A shadow Scotland side secured victory against Italy in their first of four pre-World-Cup fixtures, with Darcy Graham scoring two tries and Josh Bayliss a very late third, while Ben Healy ran the show from stand-off.
The sequence of events was similar to the teams’ last outing, on the final day of the Six Nations, when Scotland ensured the win at the death.
The standard of play on the field and the level of excitement in the stands were noticeably lower than on that spring afternoon, but Gregor Townsend will not be overly concerned by the rustiness in his team’s attack provided they sharpen their cutting edge when France visit next Saturday.
“It was far from perfect,” said Healy, who was named player of the match. “We’re just happy to get across the line with a win.
“I have two caps – both against Italy – and they came down to the wire. They’re a niggly team to play against and we saw that again. Today is a step in the right direction. Pre-season was as tough as they come, so this was a reward.”
Much of the excitement in a drab first half was generated by a sodden gull that stubbornly stayed in the midst of the action for a time before being removed to safety. It was Healy, however, who produced the one real moment of inspiration in the opening 40, chipping perfectly to the corner after a quarter of an hour for the unmarked Graham to touch down and open the scoring.
Healy missed the conversion attempt and Italy, who had begun the game more brightly, gradually got on top. Tommaso Allan first reduced the deficit with a penalty after Rory Darge had strayed offside and then put his team 6-5 ahead with the last kick of the half from a scrum penalty.
The slender lead was arguably the least the visitors deserved after a late rally that also saw winger Monty Ioane all too easily go round Graham on the outside before being shepherded into touch.
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Scotland needed to raise their energy levels in the second half if they were not to let the game drift away from them and they did so successfully. When Italy were penalised for a scrum collapse less than 10 minutes after the restart, Healy calmly added the three points to restore his team’s lead.
Graham then got in on the act again, first charging down a clearance to earn his side a scrum five, and then latching on to an Ali Price pass from the set piece to score easily from close range. Healy’s conversion made it 15-6 and it looked like game over.
But Italy, whose no-look passes were at times slicker than anything Scotland could muster, hit back when Ioane finished off in the corner from an Allan miss-pass. Allan added the two points to throw the match back into the balance, but Scotland held on.
Healy added a penalty six minutes from time and in the final minute replacement Bayliss scored in the corner, finishing off smartly from a Cameron Redpath pass after the smoothest Scotland attack of the game.
The stand-off’s conversion produced a final score that flattered the home team, although the absence of so many first-choice players – among them Hamish Watson, Jamie Ritchie, Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe – was clearly a factor in the general lack of cohesion.
Townsend is expected to restore most, if not all, of those players to the starting line-up for the France match, which will be the last outing before he reduces his squad of 41 down to the final 33 for the World Cup.
However, with a trip to St Etienne and a home match against Georgia to come in the Summer Series, he will be loth to expose all of them too often before the tournament.
“From a coach’s perspective, you don’t want a game with no errors,” he said. “You want a win, but you want things to work on during the week.
“There are bigger tests to come. We want to move forward with the confidence of a win, but knowing we have to work to get better.”
