ITALY claimed their first victory away from home in the Six Nations Championship when they stunned Scotland at Murrayfield. Tries from Mauro Bergamasco, Andrea Scanavacca and Kaine Robertson in the first six minutes handed Pierre Berbizier's side an astonishing 21-0 lead.

Scotland hit back with tries from Rob Dewey and captain Chris Paterson but a late try from Alessandro Troncon made sure of the historic win for Italy. The closest the Azzurri had previously come to a Six Nations win away from Rome was in Wales last year when they secured a well-deserved draw.

They went one better in Edinburgh to signal that they are now truly comfortable in the Six Nations . . . and will be a threat to Scotland in the World Cup in September.

The teams meet in seven months' time in what is almost certain to be the decisive encounter in World Cup Pool C and in St Etienne, Scotland coach Frank Hadden will hope his side do not reproduce the early errors which cost his side so dearly in Edinburgh.

The visitors made a dream start when fit-again Bergamasco . . . who returned to the side along with Andrea Masi and Alessandro Zanni . . .

charged down Phil Godman's attempted chip over the top and touched down with just 19 seconds on the clock.

Scanavacca made no mistake with the conversion to give Berbizier's side a seven-point lead in the first minute.

Italy doubled their lead just three minutes later thanks to another shocking error in the Scotland backline. This time Chris Cusiter's attempted pass to Dewey was intercepted by Scanavacca and the stand-off cantered between the posts before converting his own try.

Incredibly in the sixth minute it became 21-0 when Robertson seized on a looping pass from Cusiter in midfield to stroll over, Scanavacca again converting.

Scotland came powering forward and, after turning down several kickable penalties, made their pressure count when Dewey shrugged off Scanavacca's weak tackle to score his third international try, which Paterson converted.

More sloppy passing in midfield allowed Italy to not only add three points to their lead through Scanavacca's boot but also led to the sinbinning of Simon Taylor for slowing the ball down. Scotland made light of Taylor's absence though, continuing to put pressure on the Italian defence with huge centre Dewey a threat every time he touched the ball.

But a Paterson penalty on the stroke of half-time apart, the Azzurri stood firm to preserve their handsome advantage and they went into the break in high spirits.

Scotland started the second half on the front foot as they sought to reduce the deficit but Berbizier's men continued to tackle with ferocity and efficiency. Hadden made a double switch 10 minutes into the half, Allister Hogg coming on for David Callam and Allan Jacobsen replacing Gavin Kerr. Scott Murray, equalling Gregor Townsend's record haul of 82 caps for Scotland, was a powerful presence alongside the recalled Nathan Hines in the second row as Hadden's pack began to get the edge over their counterparts.

Scotland continued to ignore kickable penalties in search of tries and just after the hour mark captain Paterson delivered, bursting through a rare gap in the Italian defence to race clear. The Edinburgh man, who notably made the break while in the stand-off berth with Godman having been replaced by Nikki Walker, added the conversion to make it 17-24.

Italy regained three points of their lead when Scanavacca kicked a simple penalty after Scotland were penalised for a scrummaging offence as the Azzurri heaped pressure on the home pack just five yards from their tryline.

Another penalty from Scanavacca eight minutes from time after Sean Lamont handled in a ruck gave the visitors a 13-point lead which suddenly again looked comfortable.

And a try from Troncon with five minutes remaining was converted by Scanavacca to put the seal on Italy's famous victory.