Italy v Scotland, 22 August

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ITALY v SCOTLAND
22 August 2015
KO: 19:00 BST
Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin

Live on BT Sport

Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant Referees: [TBC]
TMO: [TBC]

A. Head to Head

23 Played 23
8 Won 15
0 Drawn 0
15 Lost 8
416 Points 524

B. Recent Form

28 February 2015
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
19 – 22 to Italy

22 February 2014
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
20 – 21 to Scotland

22 June 2013
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, South Africa
30 – 29 to Scotland

9 February 2013
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
34 – 10 to Scotland

17 March 2012
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
13 – 6 to Italy

20 August 2011
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
23 – 12 to Scotland

19 March 2011
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
21 – 8 to Scotland

C. Teams

ITALY

15 Andrea Masi
14 Leonardo Sarti
13 Tommaso Benvenuti
12 Gonzalo Garcia
11 Giovambattista Venditti
10 Tommaso Allan
9 Guglielmo Palazzani

8 Samuela Vunisa
7 Alessandro Zanni
6 Francesco Minto
5 Valerio Bernabó
4 Quintin Geldenhuys (c)
3 Lorenzo Cittadini
2 Davide Giazzon
1 Matias Aguero

16 Leonardo Ghiraldini
17 Michele Rizzo
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Marco Bortolami
20 Mauro Bergamasco
21 Marcello Violi
22 Carlo Canna
23 Luke McLean

SCOTLAND

15 Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby) – 5 caps
14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 94 caps; 12 tries, 60 points
13 Richie Vernon (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 26 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
11 Rory Hughes (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
10 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors) – 18 caps; 1 try, 5 cons, 6 pens, 1 drop
09 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby) – 6 caps

01 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
02 Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped
03 Mike Cusack (Glasgow Warriors) – 1 cap
04 Richie Gray (Castres) – 44 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
05 Grant Gilchrist CAPTAIN (Edinburgh Rugby) – 9 caps, 1 try, 5 points
06 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) – 44 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
07 John Hardie (unattached) – uncapped
08 Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps

16 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 86 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
17 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 44 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
18 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped
19 Jim Hamilton (Saracens) – 62 caps; 1 try, 5 points
20 Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 14 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
22 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 8 caps; 1 try, 1 con, 1 pen 10 points
23 Damien Hoyland (Edinburgh Rugby) – uncapped

You've got to make a lot of tackles when you never have the ball!

Worryingly, VC name checked strokosh as having done well.

Surely he won't be selected? Surely??

They made him the captain, so anything's possible but surely to god not!

Cusack is not as good as we would like to think, it was clear in the Bath away game too. They made him lost a lot of weight in order to get the odd carry (what's the point anyway?) but his scrummaging went to pot as a result. He is nowhere near his 2012 scrummaging form.

RDW_Scotland wrote:You've got to make a lot of tackles when you never have the ball!

Worryingly, VC name checked strokosh as having done well.

Surely he won't be selected? Surely??

I think Strokes was in for his "chopping" ability. If he puts the ball carrier down it prevents the maul-in-open -play. In that respect he had a good game, but in most other respects not.

Strange to hear so many people say that players don't look fit: they've been training full time for two months now they should be straining at the leash like starved whippets.

Just watched the game this morning and broadly agree with most of the other comments.

1. Weir has played himself out of the squad and Tonks did not do himself any massive favours either. I think we will see Jacko start at FH next week with Finn on the bench. If he plays well, then he goes and will cover FB as well.

2. SHC is lucky that there is no real competition for the SH slots. He did not have a good game. Henners has now played well twice and could be looking at the starting spot.

3. I think RV will go as well, he had another very industrious game. Matt Scott as well reminded us of what he can do and looks to be coming back into form in time. Horne is rapidly looking like a shoe in as well. Bennett needs to play next week and play well. It would be even clearer if we knew what was going on with Dunbar, it is looking like it would be more and more of a risk of taking him unless he plays in the next two weeks. They could potentially take 5 centres though, with one covering FH as well.

4, The front row is still as clear as mud, no one massively putting their hand up but we have no graet options either. Most of the current suspects will still probably end up going.

5. Has a dodgy stomach rogered GG chances of going. Surely JG is going to get a run out next week and Toolis has not had a chance yet either. I fancy he will want to see RH have another run out in the second row as well. He just does not have any luck at all.

6. I thought Hardie play well, put in some crunching hits and looked good going forward, while he was on. So however did Watson, he certainly plans on fighting for his place. This is going to be a very interesting selection next week. Will he give JB a start and which one of the two that played today will get a second chance. Good as Watson played, I think Hardie will get the nod. AA probably blew his chance as well, he may not get another.

Next weeks team is going to be the most intriguing so far, we won't see the full team, but probably more of them may be on the bench and will get a second half run. I think we will then see a just about full strength team for France the following week.

Can't wait, especially as I am going!

This is worth a read from a comedy viewpoint
http://www.rugby.net/s/gagKZVV9zNj

It is fairly mad that we still have one more warm up game AFTER Vern has to name the squad on 31 August.

We've talked about it a little here but surely NO first team players will play in that game on 5 September? Why risk them now?

My prediction that we will put out a pack comprised of everyone staying at home and that they will be so urined off, they will play fantastically well and have all of us both wistful and confused about whether the wrong people have been chosen. Seriously, imagine:
01. Dingly
02. Bryce
03. Welsh
04. Toolis
05. Hamilton
06. Harley
07. Watson
08. Barclay

I would love to see that pack together.

I think the win was more important than the manner of the win. Which was dire, but I really think both pyrgos and Horne have been putting their hands up well.

It'll be all the more important to put in a strong performance with a win next week to start the ball rolling (in Scotlands case it's more like a psychological boulder). We can do better against Italy but I take comfort that this isn't our best squad.

Yes we were poor but we won and that's what has been needed for a while, to start winning the games we should be winning.

BigGee wrote:Just watched the game this morning and broadly agree with most of the other comments.

1. Weir has played himself out of the squad and Tonks did not do himself any massive favours either. I think we will see Jacko start at FH next week with Finn on the bench. If he plays well, then he goes and will cover FB as well.

2. SHC is lucky that there is no real competition for the SH slots. He did not have a good game. Henners has now played well twice and could be looking at the starting spot.

3. I think RV will go as well, he had another very industrious game. Matt Scott as well reminded us of what he can do and looks to be coming back into form in time. Horne is rapidly looking like a shoe in as well. Bennett needs to play next week and play well. It would be even clearer if we knew what was going on with Dunbar, it is looking like it would be more and more of a risk of taking him unless he plays in the next two weeks. They could potentially take 5 centres though, with one covering FH as well.

4, The front row is still as clear as mud, no one massively putting their hand up but we have no graet options either. Most of the current suspects will still probably end up going.

5. Has a dodgy stomach rogered GG chances of going. Surely JG is going to get a run out next week and Toolis has not had a chance yet either. I fancy he will want to see RH have another run out in the second row as well. He just does not have any luck at all.

6. I thought Hardie play well, put in some crunching hits and looked good going forward, while he was on. So however did Watson, he certainly plans on fighting for his place. This is going to be a very interesting selection next week. Will he give JB a start and which one of the two that played today will get a second chance. Good as Watson played, I think Blake will get the nod. AA probably blew his chance as well, he may not get another.

Next weeks team is going to be the most intriguing so far, we won't see the full team, but probably more of them may be on the bench and will get a second half run. I think we will then see a just about full strength team for France the following week.

Can't wait, especially as I am going!

I cant see blake getting ahead of watson or hardie. wasnt bad also wasnt great.

alive555 wrote:

BigGee wrote:Just watched the game this morning and broadly agree with most of the other comments.

1. Weir has played himself out of the squad and Tonks did not do himself any massive favours either. I think we will see Jacko start at FH next week with Finn on the bench. If he plays well, then he goes and will cover FB as well.

2. SHC is lucky that there is no real competition for the SH slots. He did not have a good game. Henners has now played well twice and could be looking at the starting spot.

3. I think RV will go as well, he had another very industrious game. Matt Scott as well reminded us of what he can do and looks to be coming back into form in time. Horne is rapidly looking like a shoe in as well. Bennett needs to play next week and play well. It would be even clearer if we knew what was going on with Dunbar, it is looking like it would be more and more of a risk of taking him unless he plays in the next two weeks. They could potentially take 5 centres though, with one covering FH as well.

4, The front row is still as clear as mud, no one massively putting their hand up but we have no graet options either. Most of the current suspects will still probably end up going.

5. Has a dodgy stomach rogered GG chances of going. Surely JG is going to get a run out next week and Toolis has not had a chance yet either. I fancy he will want to see RH have another run out in the second row as well. He just does not have any luck at all.

6. I thought Hardie play well, put in some crunching hits and looked good going forward, while he was on. So however did Watson, he certainly plans on fighting for his place. This is going to be a very interesting selection next week. Will he give JB a start and which one of the two that played today will get a second chance. Good as Watson played, I think Blake will get the nod. AA probably blew his chance as well, he may not get another.

Next weeks team is going to be the most intriguing so far, we won't see the full team, but probably more of them may be on the bench and will get a second half run. I think we will then see a just about full strength team for France the following week.

Can't wait, especially as I am going!

I cant see blake getting ahead of watson or hardie.  wasnt bad also wasnt great.

Hopefully there is nothing Freudian about that, but of course when I wrote Blake, I actually meant Hardie, all these Kiwi opensides clearly get me confused! Blake had a decent enough debut last week, but is one for the future, not this tournament.

From what I've seen I'd take Hardie and Watson, unless JB can put in a stormer in one of the remaining games

I think we're starting to see the problem with not knowing the majority of our best team - we're having to use these games as a test to see who should play. The problem with that is these are pre-season games and the players won't have played for several months. So it is unfair to expect top notch performances.

Take Hidalgo-Clyne for example - other than 15 minutes last week this was his first rugby since May. Add to the fact that we had very little possession and we were showing little forward momentum out wide, well we could have had Aaron Smith at 9 and things probably wouldn't have been any different!

The thing is though, we all know that if you give him front foot ball and a bit of a spark outside him, Hidalgo-Clyne is absolutely deadly and could be the person to unlock a stubborn Samoan or south African defence.

So do you drop him based on one poor performance where the whole team played badly?

Same with Richie Gray - this was his first game since May and we're commenting that he wasn't as effective as he usually is!

Compare this to the likes of England, Ireland, Wales etc - they know what their best 23 is (pretty much) so these games are all about giving players fitness and firming up wider squad places. If certain players have a bad game (like England last night) it isn't as big a deal because they have tried and tested combinations and the coaches know that it was just a bad day - they have confidence that the players will deliver in the future

We're having to treat these as trials, despite the fact that the players won't be able to put in their best performance. And if a player plays badly we don't know if it is just a one off or a sign that there are better options!

It is what it is, we are a developing team with a lot of young and inexperienced players, for whom this WC has come 4 years to soon. I think that is just something we have to accept and it does not necessarily mean we will have a bad tournament.

If we picked players on the basis of experience, we really would not have that much of a team. Currently some players, Henners and RV being good examples, are putting their hands up that would not necessarily have been on the radar 6 months ago.

Yes we are playing catch up but the end result may well be much better than if we had accepted the status quo,

By the way, I thought Ritchie Gray played pretty well!

I'm certainly not saying pick our most experienced team, and I know there's not a lot we can do about our present situation. I just wonder whether we need to be less critical about some individual performances - there are certainly mitigating circumstances!

Now, if we play crap and lose to Japan then it is fair game!

I agree with that, these are warm up games and need to be seen in that context, we certainly have not showed our full hand yet and what has happened previously will be taken into account. Those who are rusty and did not play well need to wake up fast, they are not going to many more chances. One of the differences about this WC is that we are having some genuine debates about selection. Something we have rarely had the luxury of!

@poopiepants - Scotland team

I didnt manage to see much of the game as i was socialising, so i wont stick my oar in regarding performances but can i just say I hate us playing Italy its a no win situation, they turn us over = shambles, We scrape a hard fought victory = poor performance, We win convincingly = "its only Italy"

I dont understand why the sru agreed to play them twice? Surely we could have been more imaginative? Romania or Uruguay or a Club select or the under 20s? ANYONE but bloody italy!

I agree with that - games with Italy are rarely positive affairs

We're also hardly the only NH side that's had a shocker in these warm up games - both Wales and England have a lot of self-analysis to do.

Also, I don't think we had much choice with the fixtures - that was the best we could get

A game against Tonga or Fiji would have been handy, but then again our injury rate would increase significantly!

I'd say from the warm ups so far France has really begun to pull their s**t together. They looked much sharper than the 6N vs England in Paris. I bet Irish fans will be feeling nervous after watching them effectively dominate England for 70minutes.

France are my dark horse for the tournament

Regarding poor performances.. I'm not sure why it was so bad in Italy, but it definitely had an AR feeling about the game. I watched it with my dad and he felt Scotland had no urgency about them. I agreed and around the 60 min mark I said, they really just need to hold onto the ball for a while and wait for an opportunity to break the strong Italian defence. So when they finally did do that it was good to see, previous Scotland sides would just keep flogging the dead horse. Also Italy seemed to run out of puff near the end and the Scotland bench injected loads of positivity into Scotland's play.

Point being.. I think Scotland have lots of positives to take so far as they haven't used most of their big guns yet and despite some shaken performances they managed to find a way to break a tough defence.

Still a worry however, is the scrum and rolling maul /defence of rolling maul. This will be a weapon used by Samoa, USA and SA and I am sure they will realise it is a weakness in Scotland's game.