Scots add to Nick’s nightmare
28 Feb 2009
Scotland condemned Italy to their third straight defeat of this year’s Six Nations with a 26-6 win at Murrayfield.
Italy will surly finish at the base of the Six Nations log after the result and there must now be some question marks over the future of head coach Nick Mallett.
The visitors lacked any real creativity and copious amounts of unforced errors just compounded the situation.
Chris Paterson was called into duty early on when Phil Godman left the field with a blood injury and the replacement flyhalf gave his side a 6-0 lead with two early penalties. Italy skipper Sergio Parisse then demonstrated his kicking skills when he slotted a 21 minute drop goal.
Scotland edged further ahead with a penalty after Mauro Bergamasco was deemed to have deliberately knocked on in front of his posts and Godman who, by this time was back on the field, made no mistake.
Winger Simon Danielli rounded off a neat move from a quick lineout for the opening try of the game with five minutes left in the half.
The visitors made a bright start to the second half but poor decision making ruined some good work done by with wing Matteo Pratichetti and Parisse.
Italy pulled three points back with penalty from Luke McLean, but opted to turn down two more shots at goal and were made to pay minutes later when Thom Evans collected a pass from Danielli and sprinted clear, feeding replacement flanker Scott Gray for the second try.
Paterson added the conversion and slotted yet another penalty just five minutes later to make it 26-6 and that’s the way it stayed until the final whistle.
12 Comments
28 Feb 2009, 20:49 pm
Not a single Dragon in this thread.
p.s did anyone actually watch this bore of a match?
28 Feb 2009, 21:31 pm
not a good run by nick mallett. he dont have much to work with.
28 Feb 2009, 23:38 pm
#1 RedLion: Yes, it’s called being loyal and supporting your team. Although someone who jumps between the Lions and the Bulls depending on the weather outside, couldn’t possibly understand.
1 Mar 2009, 01:00 am
#3 JockBok:
Im glad we won mate but oh what a bore that game was, feel bad for Parisse and the Bergamasco brothers they are class players surrounded by such mediocrity, Scotland deserved the win but the score flattered us. Italys basics let them down badly, we may have avoided the wooden spoon. This year we have a chance to beat England at home but i doubt it will happen. i will have to change my name to Hairy Muff if we lose as BIGHIT and i have a bet on.
1 Mar 2009, 05:15 am
Nick’s got a much worse record than NZ’s John Kirwan whom he succeeded. Doesn’t say much for Mallett’s skills, does it? Downhill all the way since he left the Boks.
1 Mar 2009, 05:33 am
#5 TheTackler: Kirwan is a **** coach.I suggest you look at Mallet’s record of success at club and international level.
1 Mar 2009, 12:18 pm
Congratulations to Scotland. I hope this marvelous victory gives heart to all Jock rugby supporters, in particular to Sir Stodders and the wee Bairn.
1 Mar 2009, 12:27 pm
#6 Big Hit:
Below I have itemised the record of Kirwin, and the 3 Coaches who precede him.
John Kirwan 31%
Brad Johnstone 15%
Massimo Macioletti 0%
George Coste 30%
On what basis do call Kirwin a **** coach? This is Italy after all. Not a major powerhouse of Rugby like Ireland, Wales, France, SA, Nz, or Oz.
1 Mar 2009, 12:35 pm
#6 Big Hit:
As a matter of interest….what is Marty’s suckcess rate?
Given 10 times the player depth, I should imagine he would be up around ……lets see 31% multiplied by 10 times the player depth …..310% suckcess rate.
Kirwin ****…………maybe.
Big Hit types ****……..for sure.
1 Mar 2009, 13:45 pm
I agree that Mallet was a good coach and better than Kirwin however although he had a good run with the boks he also had a lot of shockers that get brushed over and these are genrally down to poor selections, which is the critical in being a good coach. record loss for the boks in NZ 28-0 in 99 a lot of this stemmed from putting in an untried scrum half fly half combination a week later they got flogged again by the aussies and then beaten by the welsh. He still seems to persist with crazy selections hoping they will come of ie bergamaso. If he wants to keep doing this he needs to take a few tips from Bob Dwyer that guy was the king of of picking players from out of nowhere, horan,little, kearns
I think the sign of a good coach is taking a poor team and turning them into a good team ie gatland & edwards and to the same extent woodward when he took over the poms in 97. To me Italy seem to be gettting worse under Mallet and this has to be there poorest six nations effort so far.
2 Mar 2009, 12:37 pm
#9 cane: Hahahaha good post Cane, I reckon Big Hit is stumped
2 Mar 2009, 12:39 pm
#5 TheTackler: Ja it does seem to be downhill for him hey?
Just re-read Teichmann’s book, and read Os’ and Monty’s and the insights into Mallets era are very interesting.
He must still be kicking himself for the whole World Cup 99 affair…
Too much ego.
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