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Conor O'Shea's Italy beaten by Scotland as Gregor Townsend begins reign

Italy head coach Conor O'Shea says his side showed indiscipline during their 21-point defeat...



Conor O'Shea's Italy b...
Rugby

Conor O'Shea's Italy beaten by Scotland as Gregor Townsend begins reign

Italy head coach Conor O'Shea says his side showed indiscipline during their 21-point defeat to Scotland in Singapore.

Gregor Townsend got his tenure as Scotland head coach off to a winning start as his side finished 34-13 winners, but O'Shea says his side did themselves no favours.

"There’s no doubt we put a lot of pressure on ourselves with our bad discipline," he told AP.

"I can’t fault the effort of the players in very difficult conditions, they fought to the end, but the penalty count and two yellow cards, you just can’t do that.

"The disappointing thing for is that we gave them energy. We know the road and the challenge for us is hard but we can’t make it harder for ourselves."

The sides were level at 3-3 just before the break before Scotland cut loose to lead by 12 points at the break.

They added another two tries after the break and ensured Townsend looked back on his first game in charge fondly.

"We're very pleased," he told the BBC. "As a coach if you get a win and there's a few things to work on, you're very pleased. We knew it was going to be tough in the conditions. 

"It was the first time this team had played together, but I was really pleased with the effort the guys put in during the game.

"It wasn't perfect." 

He added: "To make the breakthrough at half-time was a big boost. We scored a couple of really good tries in the second half.

"We were in their 22 a number of times during the first half, so we have to look at our decision-making and our execution when we get there. "

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