Dodd's late try helps Scotland 20s edge out Italy

SCOTLAND clinched second place in Pool B of the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in Georgia with a nailbiting 17-16 victory against Italy.

Scotland's Tom Dodd

The Scots scored three tries from Robbie Nairn, Luke Crosbie and Tom Dodd but it was a conversion by Conor Eastgate which proved to be vital.

The opposition were only able to cross the whitewash once through centre Marco Zanon, yet a fine kicking display from stand-off Antonio Rizzi kept Italy in the game.

Nairn opened the scoring with a sublime try in the early stages in which he displayed pace and power to touchdown.

But Italy levelled through Zanon and when Rizzi kicked the conversion Italy were ahead.

Scotland turned down a kickable penalty on 14 minutes and the risk paid off when Crosbie scored after a driving maul. Eastgate slotted the conversion but then missed a penalty.

Italy were denied a try by the TMO as Edinburgh’s Blair Kinghorn got a hand under the ball to stop Giovanni D’Onforio.

Italy kicked a penalty before the break and Rizzi added two more after the interval to lead 16-10. But Scotland showed character and Dodd scored the winning points.