Italy Under-23 Defeats Emerging Scotland XV

The ‘Emerging Scotland’ XV suffered a 24-7 loss to Italy Under-23 at Hive Stadium on Saturday. The teams were level at half-time, after Ollie Blyth-Lafferty’s try for the Scots was countered by Marcos Gallorini’s score for the visitors. However, Italy took command after the break, securing further tries from Luca Andreani, Marco Scalabrin, and Mirko Belloni. Liam McConnell, who recently made his debut for Edinburgh, captained the home side, while Scotland international Ollie Smith made his long-awaited comeback from a ruptured knee ligament injury, sustained last December, playing at full-back.