Alasdair Strokosch scored the vital try for Scotland © Getty Images

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Matches: Italy 29 - 30 Scotland

Teams: Italy | Scotland

Greig Laidlaw hailed Scotland's young stars after he kicked a last-gasp conversion to claim a 30-29 victory over Italy.

Alasdair Strokosch crossed the line with the final play of the match to put the Scots within a point and the skipper added the extras to seal a dramatic win. Scotland lost their previous two games of the tour against Samoa and South Africa but victory over Italy handed them third place in the four-team tournament, and Laidlaw has been pleased with his team's performance in the absence of their British and Irish Lions.

"The new caps were absolutely brilliant," he said on Sky Sports 1. "I thought they were outstanding, every one of them. I thought Matt Scott and Alex Dunbar were excellent in the centres, those guys are really maturing and we just need to keep pushing forward as a team.

"It has been tough but there is flip side to that coin. The young guys on the tour have put their hand up and they've given more depth to Scottish rugby already and they've only played in two or three Tests."

The scores were level at half-time before Laidlaw kicked Scotland into the lead, but three Italian penalties looked to have given the Azzurri the edge before Strokosch's late heroics. And Laidlaw admitted he was worried that his team's tendency to concede penalties was going to cost them.

"Credit to the boys," he added. "It's something we're trying to instil in this team that we need to be really hard to beat "We almost gave it away with ill-discipline in the second half, it cost us. But we played right until the end and sneaked a try and fortunately the last kick went over."

Italy captain Sergio Parisse was quick to praise Scotland but felt his side were unfortunate not to come away with a victory.

"Scotland played a very good match," he said. "I think we deserved the victory but this is a game we lost in the end.

"I can't say nothing to the boys, they did everything to win and we were just unlucky. We dominated the scrum today. Unlucky again. At the important scrums we were penalised. But I've been really happy with the scrummaging. It's been one of the best parts of the tour."