Italy’s Tommaso Allan, playing against four of his former Scotland under-20 team-mates, had raised the stakes with his third penalty of the night on the hour mark and the desperation that befell Scotland will not please Cotter.
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Head coach Vern Cotter accepts the moment is drawing closer when he will have to tell certain players they won’t be going to the World Cup but insists there remains plenty of spots in his final squad up for grabs. Few names were added to that list on Saturday.
The Southlander hit back before his test debut saying Scotland was in his blood and he was proud to represent the country.
Gilchrist has been named skipper for the warm-up game in Turin and will be joined in the second row by Richie Gray, while Gordon Reid, Mike Cusack, Alasdair Strokosch and Adam Ashe are also included from the start.
And the visitors’ resolve stayed strong in the final seconds of the first-half as Italy’s forwards tried to bulldoze through their defence. The hooker, Davide Giazzon, knocked on from kick-off and Duncan Weir kicked Scotland into an early lead after the much-changed visiting pack won a penalty at the resulting scrum.
The Italians visit Murrayfield next week and the Kiwi will hope his men realise the importance of that fixture as they try to build some momentum ahead of their Pool B opener with Japan on September 23.
Frederic Michalak became France’s all-time leading points scorer as his side beat England 25-20 in a World Cup warmup match on Saturday.
“I know that the players are challenging other, which is creating new challenges within, forcing us to take another look at the depth”.
Italy seemed content to hang on to what they had, but with Scott and Horne doing damage down the middle and debutant wing Damien Hoyland hungrily looking for work, Scotland looked like the side most likely to take something from this encounter.
But the Azzurri picked-up from where they left off after the interval, and talismanic flanker Martin Castrogiovanni came within an inch of scoring as he was held up by more desperate defending.
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Meanwhile Scotland replacement scrum half Henry Pyrgos scored a late try to seal a 16-12 victory over Italy in a dour warmup match in Turin. When Scotland finally cleared their lines, thanks to a lovely pick-up off his toes from RIchie Vernon, Weir was afforded another penalty on the right but this one slid wide, leaving the scores level.
