Inside 'gutted' Scotland camp as spotlight falls on part of team that 'didn't function'

Sione Tuipulotu refused to blame the weather for Scotland’s error-strewn performance in Rome as Italy defeated the visitors 18-15 amid a torrential downpour.

The Scots struggled at the set-piece, particularly the lineout where they lost five on their own throw. It happened twice in the first 10 minutes when they were in promising positions close to the Italian try-line.

“We made too many errors,” said the Scotland captain. “The conditions played a factor but both teams were out there playing in the exact same conditions. We made too many errors. We dropped the ball too many times. We weren't good enough at set-piece. And then we didn't dominate like we had spoken about. Those three errors specifically, I just think stopped us from having the game that we wanted to have.”

Italy took full advantage of Scotland’s early profligacy and raced into a 12-0 lead after 14 minutes through tries from Louis Lynagh and Tommaso Menoncello. Jack Dempsey got the Scots back into it with a converted try in the 24th minute but a penalty from Paolo Garbisi kept the away side at arm’s length and Italy led 15-10 at half-time.

It was a lead they would never lose. A second Paolo Garbisi penalty early in the second half made it 18-10 and while a fine try from substitute scrum-half George Horne brought Scotland to within three points with 14 minutes remaining, they couldn’t add to their total.

“We're gutted,” added Tuipulotu. “We prepared really well. Some of the best couple of weeks of preparation that I've had in the Scotland team. But we didn't transfer it onto the field and we didn't adjust to the conditions well enough. And yeah, we're on the losing side.

“It's tough pill to swallow and we're going to have to tackle that over the next couple of days.”

An admission on the lineout

While admitting he was no expert on lineouts, the centre acknowledged it didn’t function properly.

“I don't know anything about them, to be honest,” said Tuipulotu. “I just kind of stand out there and wait for the ball to be delivered. And the lineout's been a massive strength of ours. But it didn't function today and that's just the facts of it. And I know those boys will be frustrated with the lineout performance and they'll have to look back at it this week and try to fix it before next week because we need our lineout to function in order for us to play the rugby we want to play.”

Scotland play England at Murrayfield next Saturday in round two of the Six Nations and Tuipulotu said he would now try to lift morale.

“It's a tough job to do after a pretty gutting loss,” he said. “But it's what you have to do because it's the start of the championship. If we're going to drop our heads, it's only going to get worse from here. We've got to rally together and stay tight as a training group. But like I said, I'm not going to hide my emotions.

“I'm gutted because I didn't mean to come here to lose and we definitely didn't prepare to lose out there today. But ultimately that's happened and we're going to have to try to bounce back pretty quickly because we've got a good team coming to Murrayfield next week.”

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