Gregor Townsend praised Huw Jones-inspired Scotland for holding their nerve to fend off an Italian fightback as they got their Six Nations campaign off to a victorious start for the fifth year in succession. The Scots led after 10 minutes and were up at the interval after tries from co-captain Rory Darge, Jones and Ben White, only to be pegged back to early in the second half following some impressive goal-kicking from Tommaso Allan and a Juan Ignacio Brex breakaway try after a loose pass from Finn Russell.
Scotland host Ireland next Sunday and Townsend admitted his side will need to step their performance level up a notch if they are to maintain their winning start to the championship.
He supports really well and today the ball found him, and it was through his work off the ball. Record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe, who had trouble with an ankle issue in the weeks leading up to the tournament, received attention from the physio in the first half but the South Africa-born wing stayed on for the full 80 minutes. It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories. We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion.
