Scotland Victory Tinged With Disappointment

Scotland concluded their preparations for next month’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand with a morale-boosting victory over Six Nations rivals Italy at Murrayfield – but some of the gloss will have been taken off with the news that Nikki Walker picked up an injury that will subsequently rule him out of the tournament. Those looking forward to the Betfair Rugby World Cup could be affected by this.

The 29-year-old Ospreys back has sustained suspected knee ligament damage and had to be stretchered off the pitch towards the end of proceedings, but that incident aside, coach Andy Robinson will be delighted that his side have managed to follow up last week’s 10-6 victory against Ireland with an another, even more comprehensive score-line on home soil.

With Robinson expected to name his final thirty-man World Cup squad on Monday, it seems that Walker’s injury has come at the worst possible time as it leaves him no chance for even the swiftest of recoveries – and the Scotland coach expressed his sympathies after the match:

“It's disappointing for Nikki but we wish him a speedy recovery. Nikki worked exceptionally hard in training and some of the running lines he made yesterday were first-class.”

The eventual score-line could have been more flattering for Scotland had they converted all their chances, and the Italians could easily have found themselves on the wrong end of a morale-crushing forty point defeat. But as it was, Scotland had to content themselves with a final score of 23-12 thanks to tries from Dickinson and Blair, with Dan Parks converting them both as well as adding three penalties to round off an error-riddled game of rugby. Fans of Betfair Will Greenwood Tips might want to take note of this.

After making fourteen changes to their line-up from their previous match against Ireland, Scotland demonstrated a surprising degree of strength in depth, and one of the stars of the show was man of the match Nick de Luca who has admitted to worrying for his spot on the plane to New Zealand ahead of this encounter. He should have no such worries any more however – and neither should his partner in the centres, Graeme Morrison.

Scotland should head to the World Cup, high on confidence following their last two results – but in a tough group it is still hard to see them qualifying ahead of either England or Argentina.