Neither side showed much desire to run the ball as they battled to avoid the unsightly kitchen utensil and the first half became a battle of the boot between the two team’s respective fly-halves - De Marigny for Italy and Scotland’s Chris Paterson.

The two pivots traded penalties - three apiece - and looked to gain territorial advantage rather than release their outside backs, and the sides went into the break level at 9-9.

It was the Italians, however, that dominated the opening exchanges of the second half with their forwards, with Andre De Rossi, in particular, out-muscling his Scotland counterparts.

The Azzurri forwards made it count immediately after the restart when a lucky bounce gave them an attacking line-out inside the Scottish 22. The result was Ongaro’s try and although television replays brought the score into doubt - the referee had no doubts and the try stood.

Denis Dallan came close to crossing a few minutes later, but the Italian left-wing did not have the legs - losing out in a foot-race to Scotland winger Simon Webster.

Paterson had a chance to narrow the Italians lead with a penalty, but the Scotland skipper dropped his kick too short. It proved to be a costly miss because De Marigny had soon stretched the lead further with a successful penalty 11 minutes from time.

The South African-born fly-half, in his first game at No.10 for Italy, sealed the win for the Azzurri with two minutes left on the clock with his fifth penalty goal.

Webster crossed for Scotland’s only try of the match on the stroke of full-time, but it proved to be too little too late for the Scots, and they look set for a winless campaign, with matches against France and Ireland unlikely to yield favourable results.

Man of the match: For Scotland, scrum-half Chris Cusiter put in another confident display with some incisive breaks, but the award was always going to go to an Italian. Our pick? Captain and back row star Andrea De Rossi, who stood tall and led his men forward all afternoon.

Moment of the match: In a match that will win no beauty pageants, Ongaro’s try stood out for its drama value. The debate as to whether it was or was not legitimate will rage into the Roman night.

Villian of the match: Despite the stakes, no takers - all good clean fun.

The scorers:

For Italy:Try: OngaroPens: De Marigny 5

For Scotland:Try: WebsterPens: Paterson 3

The teams:

Italy: 15 Gonzalo Canale, 14 Nicola Mazzucato (Mirco Bergamasco, 75), 13 Cristian Stoica, 12 Manuel Dallan (Rima Wakarua, 47), 11 Denis Dallan, 10 Roland De Marigny, 9 Paul Griffen, 8 Sergio Parisse (Silvio Orlando, 62), 7 Aaron Persico, 6 Andrea De Rossi (captain), 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Santiago Dellape, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro (Carlo Festuccia, 75), 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.Unused replacements: 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Carlo Checchinato, 20 Simon Picone.

Scotland: 15 Ben Hinshelwood, 14 Simon Danielli (Derrick Lee, 75), 13 Tom Philip, 12 Brendan Laney (Andrew Henderson, 78), 11 Simon Webster, 10 Chris Paterson (captain), 9 Chris Cusiter (Mike Blair, 41), 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Allister Hogg, 6 Jason White (Jon Petrie, 80), 5 Stuart Grimes (Nathan Hines, 66), 4 Scott Murray, 3 Bruce Douglas, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 1 Allan Jacobsen (Gavin Kerr, 41).Unused replacements: 17 Rob Russell.

By Rob Peters

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