Scotland vs Italy

Kickoff: 2:15pm Saturday BBC ONE, Edinburgh

Team news

Scotland

1.Schoeman 2.Cherry 3.Z.Fagerson 4.Gray 5.Gilchrist

6.Ritchie 7.Darge(CC) 8.M.Fagerson 9.White 10.Russell(CC)

11.van der Merwe 12.McDowall 13.Jones 14.Graham 15.Kinghorn

16.Ashman 17.Sutherland 18.Hurd 19.Brown

20.Dempsey 21.Horne 22.Jordan 23.Rowe

Italy

1.Fischetti 2.Nicotera 3.Ferrari 4.Lamb 5.Ruzza

6.Negri 7.Lamaro(C) 8.Cannone 9.Page-Relo 10.P.Garbisi

11.Ioane 12.Menoncello 13.Brex 14.Capuozzo 15.Allan

16.Lucchesi 17.Rizzoli 18.Riccioni 19.Cannone 

20.Zuliani 21.VIntcent 22.A.Garbisi 23.Gesi

Scotland enter this series in the same manner that they have entered the last few; with the promise of finally achieving a Six Nations championship victory.  Players, coaches and fans alike know that time could be running out for this special group of players to finally achieve their dreams. Their chances took a massive hit recently when it was announced that inside centre Sione Tuiplotu was injured and would miss the entire tournament. He is irreplaceable for Scotland but there are good enough players to fill in at his position. Scotland are still strong right across the backs with many of them in good positions for places on the Lions Tour this summer. Bayliss and Cummings will be missed in the pack but with the returning Jonny Gray, the Scots are in good position to compete physica;lly with the best.

Last year Italy had a historic Six Nations and will now be looking to show that it wasn't a one off. Having beaten Scotland at home last year in a big upset, the Azzuri now travel to Edinburgh for what will surely be a sterner test and a true barometer of their progress this year. With an upset at Murrayfield, Italy could gate crash the competition in a big way. They are no longer a team to be taken lightly. In Menoncello and Brex they have the best centre partnership in the northern hemisphere due to the Tuipulotu injury. Ioane and Capuozzo provide game-breaking ability on the wings and Tomasso Allan brings a control to the back field whilst taking pressure off Garbisi at fly-half by giving him a second play-making option. page-Relo has been given the nod at scrum-half so it will be interesting to see if he can properly take ownership of the shirt for the entirety of the competition. 

Score Prediction 

Scotland 26 vs 20 Italy