Match Day Programme: Scotland v Italy

Match Day Programme: Scotland v Italy

Fixture: Scotland v Italy

Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh - Scotland 

Kick-off: 14:15 (GMT)

Referee: Karl Dickson

Head-to-head Played:


Played: 37 

Italy Wins: 9 


Scotland Wins: 28

Draws: 0

Points for:

Italy: 622

Scotland: 930

Last Meeting: 9 March 2024, Italy 31-29 Scotland (Stade Olimpico, Rome).

2024 6Nations Results

Scotland

W 26-27 (a) v Wales

L 20-16 (h) v France

W 30-21 (h) v England

L  31-29 (a) v Italy

L  17-13 (a) v Ireland

Italy

L 24-27 (h) v England

L 36-0 (a) v Ireland

D 13-13 (a) v France

W 31-29 (h) v Scotland

W 21-24 (a) v Wales

Team News:

Scotland: Stafford McDowall will start at inside centre in Scotland’s opening Guinness Men’s Six Nations match against Italy on Saturday. The Glasgow Warriors centre, who captained the side against Portugal in The Autumn Nations Series, will partner the experienced Huw Jones in the centre. The familiar duo of Ben White and Finn Russell, who is named as co-captain, start as half-backs.

Italy: The extended squad chosen by Quesada mirrors the one named for the 2024 Six Nations opener, with Tommaso Allan, Italy’s most capped player and all-time top scorer in the Tournament, starting at fullback alongside wings Ange Capuozzo and Monty Ioane. Ioane, who made his Italy debut against Scotland in 2022, will play at Murrayfield for the first time. The center pairing of Brex – who scored a try and was named Guinness Player of the Match against the Scots in Rome last year – and Menoncello, named MVP of the 2024 Tournament, remains unchanged. Quesada has also kept Paolo Garbisi and Martin Page-Relo in charge of the midfield.

Trivia:

  • Italy are unbeaten in their last three matches in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations (W2 D1), winning the last two in a row; it’s the Azzurri’s longest unbeaten streak in the Championship, while they have the opportunity to win three consecutive matches for the first time in their Six Nations history.
  • Scotland have won their opening match of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in six of the last eight editions of the tournament, including the last four in a row, this after winning just one of their initial 17
    Championship openers. This will be the third time they’ve faced Italy in Round 1, after 2000 (lost 20-34) and 2019 (won 33-20).
  • Italy have won their opening game of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations in just three of their 25 campaigns, losing their last 11 in a row since beating France 23-18 in Round 1 in 2013; however, each of the Azzurri’s
    last two such defeats have come by five points or fewer (24-29 v France in 2023, 24-27 v England in 2024).
  • Duhan van der Merwe was the joint-top try scorer in the 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations (5, also Dan Sheehan) and finished the year as the outright top try scorer for any men’s Tier 1 nation (9) in addition to
    ranking first for defenders beaten (48); the Scotland winger has scored four tries across his previous four Six Nations games against Italy.
  • 2024 Guinness Men’s Six Nations Player of the Championship Tommaso Menoncello made the most dominant tackles of any player from a men’s Tier 1 nation in 2024 (21) and won at least four more
    turnovers than any such back last year (10).

                          

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