[attach id=235175 size="large"]Scotland’s Stuart Hogg scores his second try
against Italy at the Murrayfield stadium,
yesterday.[/attach]

Scotland played with aggression, discipline and attacking ambition to beat Italy 34-10 in the Six Nations yesterday, their first win in this year’s championship.

Tries from Tim Visser, Matt Scott, Stuart Hogg and Sean Lamont as well as 14 points from the boot of man-of-the-match Greig Laidlaw helped Scotland overwhelm an Italy team who came into the match full of confidence after beating France last weekend.

In a match often billed as the wooden spoon decider, Scotland, who were soundly beaten 38-18 by England on the opening weekend, were superior in all areas and capitalised on a string of Italian errors.

It was their first victory at Murrayfield after five successive defeats and quashed the Azzurri hopes of building on last week’s impressive display against the pre-championship favourites.

“We had opportunities and we scored off them which was a great sign of things to come from this team. But in two weeks time we are going to have to do it again,” interim coach Scott Johnson said.

“I just want to congratulate them because they put in a hard week.

“We will enjoy the night, that’s why we play the sport, when we reassemble on Tuesday we will be all on for Ireland.”

The Italians enjoyed the early territorial advantage, but this began to seep away as the errors crept in and they fell behind after 15 minutes when a Laidlaw penalty from 30 metres soared between the posts.

That lead was doubled nine minutes later when Andrea Lo Cicero, winning his 100th cap, was penalised for pulling down the maul and Laidlaw stepped up to notch another three points.

Scotland began to showcase their attacking fluency.

Winger Visser jinked past two Italian defenders before going over for his fifth try in seven matches.

Luciano Orquera made Italy’s first mark on the scoreboard with a penalty a minute before the break.

If the Italians hoped that would give them a platform to build off they were brought down to earth after the restart as Scotland extended their lead with two quick tries.

Scott took a lovely offload from Sean Maitland to cross before Hogg intercepted a pass from the forlorn Orquera to gallop 80 metres for his second try in consecutive matches.

Laidlaw added the conversions to put Scotland 27-3 ahead after only eight minutes of the second half. Lamont then added the final gloss to the scoreline when he picked up a loose ball and ran 50 metres for another excellent individual effort.

Italy’s Alessandro Zanni bundled the ball over late on for a consolation try but it came too late to dampen home celebrations.

Wales win away

In the other match played yesterday, a last-gasp try by George North helped defending champions Wales to a 16-6 win against France at the Stade de France, ending an eight-match losing streak.

Flyhalf Dan Biggar chipped through towards wing North, who beat Morgan Parra's tackle and dived in at the corner with eight minutes left after Frederic Michalak and Leigh Halfpenny had scored two penalties each.

Halfpenny converted the try and added a penalty five minutes from time to seal Wales’s first win since they beat France at the Millennium stadium to claim the Grand Slam in last year's Six Nations.

Playing today
Ireland vs England - 16.00

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