A last-minute penalty try gave Italy a stunning 22-19 victory over Scotland in Six Nations rugby on Saturday.
Scotland led by 16 points at the break thanks to an intercept try by Mark Bennett while Joshua Furno and Giovanbattista Venditti scored for Italy.
A Greg Laidlaw penalty midway through the half moved Scotland four points ahead but relentless Italian pressure in the final 10 minutes finally paid off when referee George Clancy awarded a penalty try after Scotland pulled down the Italian maul with Sergio Parisse looking set to score.
Italy captain Sergio Parisse was unable to mask his delight in what was just their second ever victory away from home in the Six Nations.
“It was fantastic for the team to win in the end.
“We lost last time out in Rome to a late drop goal so we are really happy with the result and I’m really happy for the team. It’s going to give us some confidence for the next games.”
Defeat has left Scotland facing their fourth wooden spoon in 11 years, and Laidlaw admitted they paid the price for poor defence.
“We’re disappointed with the performance,” he said. “We let Italy into the game right at the end and it cost us. But it wasn’t just down to that, it was the whole performance.
“It was all ups and downs. We had some good stuff but there was way too much poor stuff in between. Defensively we weren’t on it today and that aspect was too soft in the first half.
“We’d talked about discipline all week but we just let them chip away at our lead.”
Wales kept their title hopes alive with a fourth straight victory over France, winning 20-13 in Paris.
The Welsh remain in the mix for overall glory, despite having lost to England in their opening match.
For France, who were loudly jeered at the final whistle, it was yet another disappointing performance and leaves their Six Nations hopes in tatters after a second straight loss.
They will do well to beat last year’s fourth-placed finish at this rate, particularly with trips to Rome and Twickenham to come.
The only remaining unbeaten teams in tournament, Ireland and England, meet in Dublin on Sunday.
