Scotland hold off improved Italy in Six Nations thanks to Chris Harris double

Mission accomplished in Rome, but this was not a particularly convincing performance by the visitors. Scotland now head to Dublin for their final match of this Six Nations campaign with winning momentum, but they’ll be in no doubt that they will need to be an awful lot better next Saturday if they are going to keep it respectable against Ireland.

Eight tries scored in total meant that this spectacle was not completely devoid of entertainment value, but the rugby on display between those isolated highlights was not really of a standard to enliven the generally subdued crowd inside a half empty – due to Covid restrictions – Stadio Olimpico.

After a tough couple of weeks against Wales and France, which had clearly shaken Scottish confidence, Gregor Townsend’s side struggled to find any rhythm during the opening quarter of an hour, committing several unforced errors including the concession of three soft penalties, with an offside on four minutes allowing Azzurri fly-half Paolo Garbisi to nudge his side into a three-point lead.

Against higher calibre opposition this game could have been out of sight before the Scots had fired a shot.

Eventually, however, it clicked for the visitors on 18 minutes when captain Stuart Hogg countered from deep. Darcy Graham provided the link to send George Turner rampaging up the right touchline. Ali Price carried the move on, and when the scrum-half was brought down 15 yards from glory, Graham scooped up and fed Finn Russell, who fired one of his trademark miss-passes leftward for Sam Johnson to score in the corner.

Italy came back hard, with Toa Halafihi latching on to a loose Russell pass to set up camp for his team inside Scotland’s 22, but the visitors rode their luck then delivered a