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Italy condemn Scotland to Six Nations wooden-spoon

Holding Slide for rugby.com.au
by RUGBY.com.au staff

Scotland finished the 2012 Six Nations with the wooden spoon as Italy beat them 13-6 in Rome on Saturday.

The defeat means Scotland have lost all of their five matches in this tournament, with their losing streak now extended to seven Tests in a row - a run dating back to last year's World Cup in New Zealand and their worst since 1998.

For Italy, who scored the only try through wing Giovanbattista Venditti early in the second half, victory saw them avoid the wooden spoon for the first time in five years and gave their French coach Jacques Brunel his first win in charge.

Scotland have now lost 12 of their 15 Six Nations matches under coach Andy Robinson and this latest defeat is bound to intensify speculation surrounding his position, even though his contract runs until the 2015 World Cup.

"That (the win) feels good. We've had enough good matches in this tournament, we only just lost against England here at the (Stadio) Olimpico for example," Italy captain Sergio Parisse told Sky Sports.

"Today we had possession of the ball, I think we deserved the win. We were a little bit afraid at half-time (when the score was 3-3) because they came into our half for 30 seconds and scored three points.

"But we won. It's good for Jacques, who's just arrived," Parisse added.

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