Italy v Scotland - teams and prediction
SIX NATIONS, ROUND FOUR: Gregor Townsend has urged his Scotland side to forget about defeats against Wales and France and finish a “disappointing” campaign in style.
The Scots started this season’s tournament in a confident mood and beat arch-rivals England 20-17 in their opener at Murrayfield before successive losses ended their title push.
Townsend’s men will finish the Six Nations with two away matches, against Italy in Rome on Saturday and Ireland in Dublin the following weekend.
“The tournament has not gone as we hoped or planned so far, that’s for sure,” said Scotland coach Townsend.
“We’ve suffered two defeats, which are disappointing.”
Scotland was beaten 36-17 by France at Murrayfield two weeks ago, with their performance against their Grand Slam-chasing opponents marred by careless errors but Townsend has challenged his men to return to their best form.
“We know in both those games we could have played better, specifically in the last game against France when there were some moments that could have changed the flow of the game if we’d made the most of them and not allowed France to make the most of their opportunities,” he said.
The former Scotland flyhalf added: “That was frustrating. But we have two games, two big tests away from home, and the players are all set on working to deliver their best performance.
“We feel if we get our performance right we’re a match for any team in the world.”
Italy is on a terrible run of 35 successive defeats in the Six Nations, with their last win in the competition a 22-19 triumph over Scotland in Edinburgh seven years ago.
Townsend, however, warned Scotland against providing “any easy ways for Italy to get into the game”.
“We know they’ll play with a lot of passion and aggression,” he said. “The last two occasions when we played in Florence and in Rome, they were the better team in the first half-hour of the game. We managed to come back and win both games but we can’t let that happen this time.”
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Players to watch
For Italy: The team shows two injury-enforced changes. Callum Braley replaces Stephen Varney at scrumhalf, after he was ruled out of the remainder of the campaign, while Giacomo Nicotera will make his debut at hooker after Gianmarco Lucchesi suffered a dislocated elbow. Elsewhere, it is the same side that took on Ireland in Round Three, with Michele Lamaro captaining the side in the back row, while Braley will combine with Paolo Garbisi in the halfbacks. Pierre Bruno and Monty Ioane start on the wings, with Edoardo Padovani completing the back three, with Leonardo Marin and Juan Ignacio Brex in the centres. Up front, Nicotera will be joined by props Danilo Fischetti and Pietro Ceccarelli while Federico Ruzza and Niccolò Cannone continue in the second row. Alongside Lamaro in the back row are Giovanni Pettinelli on the opposite flank and Toa Halafihi at No.8.
For Scotland: Ali Price will win his 50th Test cap, as the scrumhalf starts alongside regular halfback partner Finn Russell for the seventh consecutive Test. Townsend has made five changes to the run-on XV defeated by France, with back row forwards Hamish Watson and Matt Fagerson recalled following illness and injury. Sam Johnson returns to the line-up for the first time since Round One. Johnson will partner Chris Harris in the centres, while Kyle Steyn will make his first Six Nations start on the wing, with Darcy Graham also in the back three. George Turner returns to the line-up in the front row, joining Zander Fagerson and Pierre Schoeman.
Prediction
@rugby365com: Scotland by 15 points
Teams
Italy: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Montanna Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Toa Halafihi, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosuè Zilocchi, 19 David Sisi, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Marco Zanon, 23 Ange Capuozzo
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (captain), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Kyle Steyn, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Rory Darge, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Sione Tuipulotu.
Date: Saturday, March 12
Venue: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Kick-off: 15.15 (14.15 UK & GMT)
Expected weather: Intervals of clouds and sun. High of 15°C and low of 1°C
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (England), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
* Additional reporting by @SixNationsRugby
