Robinson: Set to name Scotland squad

Scotland followed up the 10-6 win over Ireland a fortnight ago by beating Italy 23-12 at Murrayfield in the second EMC Test on Saturday.

The phoney war is now over - the next Scotland Test will be the September 10 World Cup clash with Romania in Invercargill before further Pool B fixtures with Georgia, Argentina and England.

Robinson was clear in his own mind of the final make-up of his 30-man squad ahead of the Italy Test, with eight players to miss out.

One of the men to miss out is wing Nikki Walker who suffered a knee injury.

Prop Ryan Grant, flanker Robert Harley and centre Ben Cairns did not play a minute of either of the warm-up Tests and they are unlikely to travel to the training camp in Australia and on to New Zealand.

Greig Laidlaw is set to become the victim of fierce competition at scrum-half, after British and Irish Lions Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter - on his international return following a 17-month absence - came through unscathed on Saturday.

In the front row, Geoff Cross is in pole position at tighthead prop, but yesterday Euan Murray proved his class as a replacement for Moray Low.

Murray's absence against Argentina due to not playing on Sundays for religious reasons may result in Low travelling too.

One of the most competitive areas of the squad is in the back row, where Richie Vernon, David Denton, Johnnie Beattie and Alasdair Strokosch are likely vying for two places.

Vernon hopes he has done enough to claim his place.

The Sale Sharks number eight said: "My own performance was a bit like the team's - we did some really good stuff and some stuff that wasn't so good.

"Against some of the teams in the World Cup we're going to have to be a lot more clinical and finish off more of the chances we create.

"Overall I think we're all really positive about. We won a Test match, a particularly tough Test match - I think Italy played really well."

Scotland prevailed courtesy of prop Alasdair Dickinson's first Test try, an opportunist's score from Blair and 13 points from the boot of Dan Parks, whose experience in managing a game may edge him in front of Ruaridh Jackson in the bid to start at fly-half.

Italy had troubled their hosts, with Tommaso Benvenuti finishing off a length-of-the-field move and Fabio Sementazo touching down early in the second half after wriggling out of an attempted Vernon tackle, but Scotland held on.

Vernon added: "It was poor technique, I got too high and slipped off the tackle.

"I said to (defence coach) Graham Steadman straight after I'm going to have to do a bit more work before the World Cup if I'm picked and he was happy to do it with me.

"That's definitely something I'll be working hard on in the next couple of weeks."

While critical of his performance in and around the contact area, Vernon was pleased to stretch his legs in attack.

He added: "I was pleased with my performance with the ball in hand.

"I got over the gain-line a few times and that was definitely one of the positive aspects of my game."

Another positive for Scotland was the performance of man of the match Nick De Luca.

Although a likely try-scoring opportunity was spoiled when De Luca broke through only to be tackled before releasing to men outside him, the Edinburgh centre stated his case to start in Invercargill.

He said: "I was delighted to put my best foot forward and to hopefully give Andy Robinson an easy decision.

"I've put my hand up and done everything I can. I'm happy with what I've done.

"We're making chances and not scoring them, including my break. We're just not quite there yet, but it was only our second hit out."

Bath full-back Jack Cuthbert is likely to be another of the disappointed, having only had a short cameo appearance against Ireland.