Scotland to continue fine form with win over Italy

David Skippers
Add as a preferred source on Google

Scotland will be hoping to continue their excellent form when they face Italy in Saturday’s early Autumn Nations Cup encounter in Florence.

After another underwhelming Six Nations campaign, in which they finished at the bottom of the standings for the fifth successive year without winning a game, the Azzurri will be desperate to have more success in this tournament.

Good start is imperative

A good start to the competition is imperative although they will have to deliver an exceptional performance to beat this Scotland side, who go into the game after notching four consecutive wins, including their first hat-trick of Six Nations victories for 24 years.

With the evergreen and peerless Sergio Parisse – who has arguably been their best ever player – not in the matchday squad for this game, and in the twilight of his career, it is up to a new breed of players to take the fight to the opposition.

In the Italian pack, Parisse’s continued absence is tempered somewhat by the emergence of the talented Jake Polledri, Sebastian Negri and Braam Steyn, while Matteo Minozzi brings an air of excitement to their backline.

Head coach Franco Smith has called up some inexperienced players for this encounter but he is optimistic his mix of youth and experience will give a good account of themselves.

“An interesting tournament begins and we can’t wait to take the field to face this new challenge,” he said. “We have worked well with the usual passion and motivation.

“There will be young players who will take the field for the first time with the national team together with those who have made the history for this shirt – a perfect mix to help build our team identity.”

The last time Italy were victorious in this fixture was in 2015 when they claimed a hard-fought 22-19 triumph at Murrayfield. Since then, Scotland have beaten them on eight successive occasions and their most recent encounter saw Gregor Townsend’s troops claiming a 17-0 victory during a Round Three Six Nations clash in Rome earlier this year.

Despite their impressive form, Scotland were dealt a massive double blow after star playmakers Finn Russell and Adam Hastings sustained serious injuries which ruled them out of the Autumn Nations Cup.

That leaves Duncan Weir to start at fly-half but there is still plenty of excitement in their ranks and they head into this game in a confident mood after securing their first win in Wales for 18 years when the sides met in their Six Nations finale a fortnight ago.

Players to watch:

For Italy: Although the Azzurri are struggling to hit their straps, a player who has no such issues is number eight Jake Polledri, who is arguably their best player based on current form. The Gloucester stalwart is the prototype of the modern day back-rower, who combines brilliant ball carrying ability with excellent breakdown work and great physicality on defence. Despite suffering that Six Nations defeat to England a fortnight ago, Italy were competitive for long periods – especially during the first half – with Polledri at the forefront of that onslaught. He eventually gained 56 metres on attack from 12 runs which included one clean break and five defenders beaten. He will be hoping to continue where he left off in that game when he takes on the Scots.

For Scotland: With injuries at fly-half, Duncan Weir gets a rare chance to wear his country’s number 10 jersey in the international arena. The Worcester Warriors playmaker last started in a Test way back in 2016 and will be determined to take this chance by delivering a polished performance. The 29-year-old has caught the eye with some fine showings at club level with his attacking play particularly impressive. He will have to hit the ground running in this Test and will be expected to keep the scoreboard ticking with accurate goal-kicking and excellent game management. If he succeeds in those departments, Scotland should finish this tricky assignment as the victors.

Head-to-head: Although they will seldom come into direct contact, the performances of the two full-backs – Italy’s Matteo Minozzi and Stuart Hogg of Scotland – will have a big impact on this game’s outcome as both players are vital cogs for their respective teams. Minozzi is an excitement machine whose brilliant counter-attacking ability makes him a genuine threat with ball in hand but Hogg is no slouch in that department either as illustrated by the brilliant try he scored in the previous Test between these teams, in Rome earlier this year. If either Minozzi or Hogg find themselves in space on Saturday, don’t be surprised when they decide to go full throttle from the back and that usually spells trouble for their opponents.

Previous results:

2020: Scotland won 17-0 in Rome
2019: Scotland won 33-20 at Murrayfield
2018: Scotland won 29-27 in Rome
2017: Scotland won 34-13 in Singapore
2017: Scotland won 29-0 at Murrayfield
2016: Scotland won 36-20 in Rome
2015: Scotland won 48-7 at Murrayfield
2015: Scotland won 16-12 in Torino

Prediction: Although the Azzurri will be competitive during the early exchanges, they won’t be able to do it for a full 80 minutes and will fade badly during the latter stages of this game. Scotland to win by 15 points.

The teams:

Italy: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Marco Zanon, 12 Carlo Canna, 11 Mattia Bellini, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Jake Polledri, 7 Braam Steyn, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Niccolò Cannone, 4 Marco Lazzaroni, 3 Giosuè Zilocchi, 2 Luca Bigi (c), 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Simone Ferrari, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Johan Meyer, 20 Maxime Mbanda’, 21 Stephen Varney, 22 Tommaso Allan, 23 Federico Mori

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Ali Price, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 WP Nel, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Nick Haining, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 James Lang, 23 Blair Kinghorn

Date: Saturday, November 14
Venue: Stadio Artemio Franchi
Kick-off: 13:45 local (12:45 GMT)
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson, Christophe Ridley
TMO: Wayne Barnes

 

Features