World Cup hopeful Ben Healy delighted to put ‘best foot forward’ against Italy

Scotland rookie Ben Healy was delighted to land the man of the match award against Italy on a day when he knew he had to deliver a big performance to keep his hopes of going to the World Cup alive.

The 24-year-old Edinburgh fly-half appears to be vying with Gloucester counterpart Adam Hastings for a place in Gregor Townsend’s 33-man squad, which is due to be finalised over the next couple of weeks.

And Healy – who made his Scotland debut as a replacement in the Six Nations match against Italy in March – stepped up and marked his first start by kicking 10 points from a possible 12 and playing a prominent part in two of his team’s three tries as they defeated the Azzurri 25-13 at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Relive all the action from yesterday's 25-13 win over Italy.#AsOne pic.twitter.com/OvkCeeMldD

— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) July 30, 2023

“Probably a little bit, yes,” he said when asked if he felt pressure to produce the goods.

“It was more important that we got the win and put into practice a lot of things we’d been working on throughout pre-season.

“But without question, I knew I had to have a good game against Italy because there are only four warm-up games and there are other lads that need to play games.

“Realistically, I knew I had to put my best foot forward.”

Healy played at Under-20 level for his native Ireland, but he qualifies for Scotland through his Scottish-born mother.

The stand-off was called up to Townsend’s squad for the first time for the Six Nations earlier this year just after his impending transfer from Munster to Edinburgh this summer was announced.

Having been involved with the national team for the best part of seven months, serving as back-up to the talismanic Finn Russell, he was delighted to