Stenhouse kick fails to rescue Scotland

Italy Under-21 6 Scotland Under-21 3

Young Scotland slithered their way to an embarrassing defeat after getting stuck in the mud of Noceta.

In cold and misty conditions, the Scots should have felt at home on a pitch that had been lashed by rain for two days and which soon cut up. However, they instead lost their way, with the backs in particular trying to play an unsuitably expansive game.

Italy, who had been badly mauled by France in their opening game, had a 3-0 lead by half-time, thanks to a penalty by the stand-off Vincenzo Zullo.

Scotland drew level in the second half when the Hawick No 10 Neil Stenhouse landed a penalty, but Zullo's second penalty put Italy back in the lead and Scotland fluffed a chance at the end when they lost a scrum against the head.

Bridgend want a Welshman to replace Dennis John, who left the Welsh-Scottish League club last week. The club have appointed Allan Lewis as caretaker-coach at Brewery Field for the remainder of the season.

However, Adrian Hadley, Bridgend's chief executive, said: "While we will be advertising the post globally, we would ideally like to have a Welshman to take the club on.

"I saw plenty of good Welsh coaches working in England while I was at Sale Sharks and there is obviously a wealth of coaching talent in Wales.

"We will be contacting the Welsh Rugby Union director of rugby, Terry Cobner, to ask his advice on our recruitment campaign."

He added: "This is a post that should appeal to any coach with ambitions to work at the highest professional level and beyond.

"There is huge potential at the Brewery Field and whoever is installed as our new head coach will inherit a squad packed full of top talent.

"Off the field, the commitment and determination from our chairman Leighton Samuel to turn Bridgend into one of the powerhouse clubs of European rugby should be a huge incentive to any applicant."

However, the chief executive revealed that he does not expect an appointment to be imminent.

"The contract we are offering will be for a two-year period and we anticipate having our new head coach in place before pre-season training starts in the summer," he said. "Allan Lewis will guide the team through to the end of the current season in May."

Hadley expects the assistant coaches Richard Webster and Huw Bevan to be working alongside the new man. He said: "Both still have another year left on their contracts and will continue to work alongside the new head coach, providing him with a wealth of coaching knowledge and expertise."

* The United States Rugby youth coach Scott Novack has announced the Americans will hold a player development camp, in Everett, Washington between 22 and 24 February. The camp follows a similar successful initiative in Sacramento.