EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Winger Blair Kinghorn scored a hat-trick of tries and pivot Finn Russell provided decisive moments of genius as Scotland got their Six Nations campaign off to a winning start with a 33-20 victory over Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Scotland scored five tries to three for Italy for a deserved win, headlined by Kinghorn’s three scores but inspired by Russell’s clever touches, both out of the hands and with the boot.
They let a 31-3 lead slip in the final 10 minutes after Simon Berghan was yellow carded and Italy took advantage of the one-man advantage to score through Guglielmo Palazzani, Edoardo Padovani and Angelo Esposito to give some late gloss to the Italy score.
Stuart Hogg got Scotland’s third try, although television replays cast doubt on its veracity, and substitute Chris Harris went over for their fifth.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Clare Fallon)