6N 2017 : Scotland vs Italy Murrayfield Edinburgh "THE BACKLASH?"

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ITALY VS SCOTLAND

Date: Saturday 18th March
Venue: Murrayfield Edinburgh
Kick Off: 12h30
Referee:  Pascal Gauzere (France)
TV Coverage: Live on BBC

Scotland and Italy will get proceedings underway on the final weekend of the 2017 Six Nations Championship when they meet at the BT Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday 18th March.

Scotland ended a run of nine straight Six Nations defeats when they beat Italy 36-20 in the 2016 Championship.

Scotland and Italy have contested a total of 26 rugby test matches since their first meeting in 1996. Scotland have won 18 of those matches, whilst Italy have won 8 matches.

Teams

Scotland

TBC

Italy

TBC

majesticimperialman wrote:With regards to this game. The way i understand is at the moment with regards to positions in the table
Scotland are above Wales and France. i think that is right.

Now no one really expects Scotland to lose this week end. do they?

So ( IF ) Scotland beat Italy, and Wales beat France...Do Scotland stay above Wales?...Or do Wales move above Scotland?

No, we are in 5th - same points as Wales, but a much poorer points difference




Rank Team
Last updated 11 March 2017 at 18:01
1 England 4 4 0 0 137 68 2 18
2 Ireland 4 2 0 2 113 68 2 10
3 France 4 2 0 2 87 72 2 10
4 Wales 4 2 0 2 84 66 1 9
5 Scotland 4 2 0 2 93 118 1 9
6 Italy 4 0 0 4 50 172 0 0

Scotland are currently 2nd bottom

My mistake. i thought Scotland was above Wales.  Sorry.

If Scotland win without a bonus point and/or a considerable points difference, they will jump the loser of Wales vs France.

If Scotland win with a bonus point and a considerable points difference shift, they would jump France and Wales if it finished tight, regardless of who won.

If Scotland win, they'll overtake Ireland if Ireland fail to win.

If Ireland win, Scotland would need a bonus point win and a 70+ margin of victory to overtake Ireland.

So if Scotland beat Italy, they'll finish at least 4th. If they can get a good bonus point victory you can bump them up a spot, and if England beat Ireland they could even finish second.

tigertattie wrote:

BigGee wrote:Italian team out, Favaro and Campagnaro both out.

That's a bit of a blow to them, two of their best players. I bet FR is glad that Simone won't be lining him up though.

It is a little bit of a problem for SF, for all his heart on his sleeve devotion to the cause, it does take a lot out of him and he rarely manages to string more than a couple of games together. Something that Glasgow have probably factored in when deciding to let him go.

All the more reason for him to try and pick up a big contract this time around, it is hard to see him playing on into his 30s.

Still hopefully he will be fit and ready to have a crack at Farrell in the Sarries game.

I never like seeing players injured! opponents or otherwise! When you are playing a game of international rugby it is a test and each time you should want to play the best team you can to challenge yourself and continually improve!

Favaro is great and Campy is hands down the best player in the Italian team (yes he's even better than Parisse). It's a shame that they won't be playing but at least Dunbar and Jones won't have to worry about defending against Campagnaro!

We should be careful, Benvenuti is coming in at 13 and he's a classy player with pace to burn.

The Italians won't just come and lie down. They have not done that in any of their games so far, but have played hard for about 60 mins before running out of steam and then shipping some points.

Our objective will be to make sure we are in a position to capitalise on that when it happens by being in front and then turning the screw.

What we must not do is to get fixated on the bonus point try right from the off and start playing a game of chuck about and this is where Russell may need to reign himself in a bit.

We are better than them pretty much right across the pitch and if we can play a solid structured game without mistakes, we will win.

I just worry a little that their need to attone for last weekend and the emotion of it being VCs last game might get into their heads a little bit and spoil that.

This game, in many ways, is a test of the teams maturity as was the test they failed so dismally last weekend. We are clear and utter favourites this time around, not a position we have always been comfortable with. It is a little bit of a worry!

BigGee wrote:This game, in many ways, is a test of the teams maturity as was the test they failed so dismally last weekend. We are clear and utter favourites this time around, not a position we have always been comfortable with. It is a little bit of a worry!

This is where I'd like to think to progress made by Glasgow over the last few years will really come into its own for Scotland. Whilst the Edinburgh players have no experience of being favourites for anything ever, the Glasgow players have had to live with the burden of expectations for a while now and have generally risen to the occasion when needed. If cooler heads can prevail then we will win with something to spare.

BigGee wrote:The Italians won't just come and lie down.

Really? The Italian lads I know do just that, whilst asking their mums to do their washing and knock them up a plate or carbonara.

Rumours circulating that Weir & CDP are going to start on sat.

I've no issue with CDP as whilst he didn't have a great game on sat, no one did, this will be a good chance for him to show what he can do.

Weir on the other hand....If we need to get a TBP (which we will if we want to try and aim for 2nd) is a pretty major blow.

Can only assume Russell and Wilson haven't got over their respective injuries.

EWT Spoons wrote:Rumours circulating that Weir & CDP are going to start on sat.

I've no issue with CDP as whilst he didn't have a great game on sat, no one did, this will be a good chance for him to show what he can do.

Weir on the other hand....If we need to get a TBP (which we will if we want to try and aim for 2nd) is a pretty major blow.

Can only assume Russell and Wilson haven't got over their respective injuries.

Russell must be completely broken. Could Ross Ford not start at 10 instead?

I don't think we can be too harsh on CDP - he came on for his first cap when we were getting absolutely horsed!

funnyExiledScot wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Rumours circulating that Weir & CDP are going to start on sat.

I've no issue with CDP as whilst he didn't have a great game on sat, no one did, this will be a good chance for him to show what he can do.

Weir on the other hand....If we need to get a TBP (which we will if we want to try and aim for 2nd) is a pretty major blow.

Can only assume Russell and Wilson haven't got over their respective injuries.

Russell must be completely broken. Could Ross Ford not start at 10 instead?

He ruled out a move to prop....but no mention of moving to 10....

I'd disagree that Italy haven't lain down, at least in comparison to previous years . England game aside which is where they played their wildcard they've been pretty awful. Yes points have tended to flow late bit you can't look at the score lines without seeing a gulf .
Maybe it's just that even standing up they are still rubbish.

Scotland may have been on the end of a hammering of similar proportions but man for man and as a team are the far better side.

What may tell is squad depth. For Scotland there's injuries mounting and they could be well below strength. Not such a problem for Italy but you may see an experimental line up with some young guns given a go. Other than an extreme outside chance of a 15 point win to take 12th spot in the rankings they have jack all to play for...They've already lost pride.

Even if they turn up switched on I can't see them sustaining a high level for 80 minutes when they've been a 50 minute team all tournament. They still haven't got a decent kicker either.

Maybe it won't be a spanking but Scotland really should be turning them over by a decent margin. Home advantage hasn't made any odds for them so far

funnyExiledScot wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Rumours circulating that Weir & CDP are going to start on sat.

I've no issue with CDP as whilst he didn't have a great game on sat, no one did, this will be a good chance for him to show what he can do.

Weir on the other hand....If we need to get a TBP (which we will if we want to try and aim for 2nd) is a pretty major blow.

Can only assume Russell and Wilson haven't got over their respective injuries.

Russell must be completely broken. Could Ross Ford not start at 10 instead?

So, we've had a centre popping up as a second row and scoring a try from a line out; a back row pretending to be a hooker and throwing in to a line out which led to a try; why not have Shrek lining up at 10 while Gray and Gray lift Meatball at the first attacking line out. We're bound to score from it.

On second thoughts.... the sight of Jonny and Richie failing to get the less than sylph-like Meatball off the ground would destroy team morale. Best not try it.

EWT Spoons wrote:Rumours circulating that Weir & CDP are going to start on sat.

I've no issue with CDP as whilst he didn't have a great game on sat, no one did, this will be a good chance for him to show what he can do.

Weir on the other hand....If we need to get a TBP (which we will if we want to try and aim for 2nd) is a pretty major blow.

Can only assume Russell and Wilson haven't got over their respective injuries.

The BBC article yesterday about Brown not being suspended, suggested that Russell was going to be fit. No other FH seems to have been brought into the squad either.

The only logical conclusion from that if Weir is going to start, is that Russell will bench. Whether that is because his knee is a little bit dodgy or because he is on the naughty step for the crazy pass last weekend is less clear.

I have never been entirely easy about putting a player on the bench who is not fit enough to start, what happens if Weir gets injured in the second minute?

CDP on the other hand makes sense. Wilson took a battering last week +/- a head injury and either way could probably do with a week off. We have waited a long time for CDP to start now, most of us probably thought he would be lining up last November. Time to see what he can do, he could become a very big player for us over the next few years (provided he plays better than he has played for Edinburgh recently!).

Everyone has put something in the region of 35-60 points on Italy, and so surely we cannot consider ourselves on the upswing unless we do the same.

Finn not starting will be a major problem. Whom else have we called up to the squad? Anyone?

I think I'm right in saying we haven't called anyone up to the squad all 6N despite all the injuries we've had...

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think I'm right in saying we haven't called anyone up to the squad all 6N despite all the injuries we've had...

Have seen nothing. Always interesting to see who appears in the SRU training videos posted online - Jon Welsh was there for one.

Welsh was always in the squad

When does the squad start getting drip fed out?

Usually around 11 / half 11

RDW_Scotland wrote:Usually around 11 / half 11

So finished about 15.00 then

To be fair, I think the tweets came through much faster last week - I barely had time to sacrifice a goat to Ra the Beneficent to ensure victory.

IanBru wrote:To be fair, I think the tweets came through much faster last week - I barely had time to sacrifice a goat to Ra the Beneficent to ensure victory.

So it was your fault we lost as you rushed it.. you know you need to be exact in these things

Head Coach Vern Cotter has named one change to the starting Scotland side to face Italy in this Saturday’s final RBS 6 Nations match at BT Murrayfield (kick-off 12.30pm) – live on BBC.

24/02/17 BT MURRAYFIELD STADIUM - EDINBURGH Scotland's Ross Ford
Hooker Ross Ford starts
Scotland cap centurion Ross Ford [right] will start his first match of the championship in place of hooker Fraser Brown, who moves to the bench.

Brown is accompanied by Gloucester centre Matt Scott, who joins an otherwise unchanged bench in place of injured Glasgow Warriors back Mark Bennett, who damaged his knee and arm in the early part of last weekend’s loss to England.

Six of the starting side were nursing injuries earlier this week, with Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Ryan Wilson continuing their graduated return to play protocol, while Finn Russell, Huw Jones (both knee) and Richie Gray (hamstring) have recovered.

Providing the trio complete the progressive protocol, Hogg and Seymour will be joined by Harlequins wing Tim Visser once more, while captain John Barclay and Hamish Watson accompany Ryan Wilson in the loose forwards.

At lock Jonny Gray will partner brother Richie, with Glasgow Warriors duo Zander Fagerson and Gordon Reid packing down in the front-row with Ford.

Half-backs Ali Price and Finn Russell join centres Alex Dunbar and Huw Jones in the starting line-up for the third test in a row.

Scotland Head Coach, Vern Cotter, said: “The players were frustrated by last weekend but we must take all the learnings from the past years and produce a strong, complete performance to put us in the best possible position to finish in the top-half of the table.

“We want to repay the support of another sell-out crowd.”

A win for Scotland could see them equal their best-ever finish in the campaign (currently third on three previous occasions), while other results could conspire to help Scotland to second place for the first time since the Five Nations became six in 2000.

Cotter added: “Matches between Scotland and Italy have always been tough affairs. “We have a lot of respect for them and feel they have been improving throughout the competition.

“They showed in this campaign they can be innovative, so preparation has been key to ensuring we put in a good performance. “We have to be ready for anything.”

Scotland team to play Italy at BT Murrayfield, RBS 6 Nations
Saturday 18 March (kick-off 12.30pm) – live on BBC

15. Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 52 caps; 16 tries, 3 pens, 89 points

14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 35 caps; 15 tries, 75 points
13. Huw Jones (Stormers) – 7 caps; 4 tries, 20 points
12. Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps; 6 tries, 30 points
11. Tim Visser (Harlequins) – 30 caps; 12 tries, 60 points

10. Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 26 caps; 2 tries, 8 cons, 8 pens, 50 points
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps

1. Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps; 1 try, 5 points
2. Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 106 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 8 caps
4. Richie Gray (Toulouse) – 64 caps; 3 tries, 15 points
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
6. John Barclay CAPTAIN (Scarlets) – 59 caps; 4 tries, 20 points
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 9 caps; 1 try, 5 points
8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 26 caps

Substitutes:
16. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 24 caps
17. Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby) – 7 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh Rugby) – 2 cap
19. Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) – 28 caps; 1 try, 5 points
20. Cornell Du Preez (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
21. Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 20 caps; 4 tries, 3 pens, 29 points
22. Duncan Weir (Edinburgh Rugby) – 26 caps; 2 tries, 7 cons, 10 pens, 1 drop, 57 points
23. Matt Scott (Gloucester) – 36 caps; 4 tries, 20 points

Minimal changes is good. We good well and truly pumped last week and the team should be out for blood. At least I hope so as I'm going.

I'm amazed that none of the head knocks have led to people being ruled out - hopefully they are indeed OK.

Ryan Wilson especially - he took a big knock.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I'm amazed that none of the head knocks have led to people being ruled out - hopefully they are indeed OK.

Ryan Wilson especially - he took a big knock.

'Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour and Ryan Wilson continuing their graduated return to play protocol' Obviously none of the three would be fit to play if the game was being played today (or even tomorrow possibly) so it's a bit of a risk.

Catching up on weekly news. Fraser-Brown being cleared a sensible decision I think, the guidelines say that upper back is a yellow so I felt it was well dealt with on the field at the time, though he was probably only an inch or two away from seeing red.

Otherwise team news is good, assuming the concussed are all passed fit to return. Like RDW a bit surprised that Wilson's been passed fit, he took a heavy one. I'm quite happy in a way that they were all withdrawn from the action, shows the medical staff is taking the issue seriously.* Scott ahead of Bennett a logical choice, and one can only hope we don't lose three back three players to injury this week

If Italy tackle like they did last week Scotland should cruise this, they probably won't attempt quite so many silly offloads as the French did. Obviously Italy will expect to defend somewhat better though... Not worried about Italy's non-ruck tactics, Scotland's pick-and-go game was pretty much the only thing that worked well last week, so they should be fine with that. Italy's scrum also hasn't been that great, so hopefully Scotland can gain some sort of parity there.


*Not that I was happy at the time, especially Hogg

Blimey, am amazed, yet very pleased that everyone has been passed fit. Was not expecting that at all, though I suppose there remains some possibility of a late withdrawal.

I am going to this game, so really hoping for a great performance to do the team proud and to give Vern the send off he deserves.

Just make sure you win better than 36-15 or it will be 'as good as a loss'.

Scottrf wrote:Just make sure you win better than 36-15 or it will be 'as good as a loss'.

OK. We'll do it for you Scott.

Glad the rumours of Weir starting were rubbish and good to see Scott on the bench. Hopefully he gets on and does well.

Surprised that everyone is still up and walking!

For what it's worth, I'd have probably given a bench spot to Maitland. With Seymour and Hogg getting knocks last week, it would be prudant to have fullback cover! I'd probably have taken Weir out of the bench to accommodate. He's not going on unless Russell gets injured and Hogg could have covered 10 against italy.

I really hope that Matt Scott and CDP get a good 20 mins at least to have a run around and show folk what they can do!

tigertattie wrote:Surprised that everyone is still up and walking!

For what it's worth, I'd have probably given a bench spot to Maitland. With Seymour and Hogg getting knocks last week, it would be prudant to have fullback cover! I'd probably have taken Weir out of the bench to accommodate. He's not going on unless Russell gets injured and Hogg could have covered 10 against italy.

I really hope that Matt Scott and CDP get a good 20 mins at least to have a run around and show folk what they can do!

I imagine that if we are in front, which we should be, he will give all on the bench a decent run out this time. That would be good from Glasgow's perspective, as we don't want all our players back in bits.

Stuart Hogg has just become a dad for the 2nd time - I hope this doesn't cause a distraction for Saturday!

Scotland should win this but after their set piece and first phase defense got rogered mercilessly last week i expect the italians will push them rather close. In fact i wouldn't be surprised if they got stuffed. Also feel sure that performance will put paid to many ideas that Scotland will or should contribute a decent amount of players to the Lions i'm afraid. Lots of marginal selections will now go the way of Wales after their galactic victory. Players like Hogg and Jonny Gray should go, maybe Seymour but few others if any. pity

Scotland & Wales should provide similar numbers to the Lions. What may edge it is the result when they played each other.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:Scotland & Wales should provide similar numbers to the Lions. What may edge it is the result when they played each other.

Rubbish. Good job you aren't in charge

Scotland: Hogg, Seymour, Jonny Gray max.
Wales: Tipuric, Warburton, AWJ, Faletau, L Wiliams, North on the plane, Halfpenny and Owens distinct possibilities.

1/2p & Owens really - please be serious.

Any chance we can not turn this into a Wales / lions thread?

Hopefully the players can get a good result at the weekend, we really need this to be TBP win to keep us in contention for 2nd spot.

Also given it'll be Big Vern's last game in charge I hope the fans recognise his contribution to the team after the game.

I'm hoping that after the whistle blows for full time that the crowd all stand up and start singing "we're no awa' tae bide awa'"

Vern won't have a scooby what we're on about but hey ho!

Gwlad wrote:Scotland should win this but after their set piece and first phase defense got rogered mercilessly last week i expect the italians will push them rather close. In fact i wouldn't be surprised if they got stuffed. Also feel sure that performance will put paid to many ideas that Scotland will or should contribute a decent amount of players to the Lions i'm afraid. Lots of marginal selections will now go the way of Wales after their galactic victory. Players like Hogg and Jonny Gray should go, maybe Seymour but few others if any. pity

You wouldn't be surprised if Italy beat us? Please...

It's amazing how many Welsh have come crawling out of the woodwork after beating Ireland.

If Scotland are so bad how did they manage to beat Wales? How did they manage to beat Ireland (a team you seem to think Victory over exonerates all the rubbish your team has been playing over the past few months)? As it stands Scotland have beaten more of the home nations than either Ireland or Wales and by that logic are the 2nd best team with the second best players in the Lions selection pool.

Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all much of a muchness at the moment. The simple truth is that half the Lions team will be English with the remaining half split between Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

All in all I'm very pleased with the selection. I can't believe that Seymour and Wilson in particular have gotten through their head injuries. Those two in particular got absolutely rattled.

I would have persevered with Brown starting at hooker though. Perhaps Ford is on to use the scrum as a weapon but I would have stuck with Brown who untill last weekend was one of the form hookers of the tournament.

Disaster - Richie Gray ruled out, Gilchrist to start

RDW_Scotland wrote:Disaster - Richie Gray ruled out, Gilchrist to start

That's a solid kick in the stones for Swinson.

Gilchrist has been arguably quite hummin' for Edinburgh all season. What has he done to merit being elevated into the 1st XV past the bench cover?

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Disaster - Richie Gray ruled out, Gilchrist to start

That's a solid kick in the stones for Swinson.

Gilchrist has been arguably quite hummin' for Edinburgh all season. What has he done to merit being elevated into the 1st XV past the bench cover?

Can only imagine Vern sees him as providing better balance to start with Jonny.

Vern, of course, is wrong (but someone else can tell him).

For Swinson and to a lesser extent Toolis that is a blow. Gilco can't even get into the Edinburgh team currently, so how he's leapfrogged Swinson and Toolis to start is mystery. I know Vern rated him once upon a time, but he's been a shadow of that player since then.

Odd. Very odd!

Gutted that Ritchie is out! He's been better this campaign than his brother I'd say!

Can't fathom why Swinson doesn't start and Gilcho benches! I can;t fathom why Gilcho would even bench over Toolis (Or a second row from the Ecclefechan ladies 2nd XV)

There may be some sense in having Gilcho on from the start to soak up the early pressure from Italy. He's a bigger lump that Swinson, and we maybe need his stodge to soak up their pressure before they start blowing out of their rear ends at 60 mins.
This then allows a very angry, but big impact Swinson to come on and create a bit of havoc against the tired opposition.
It may not be such a bad idea after all.....

But, if I was Toolis, I'd be well and truly hacked off. I'm sure that this is something that Toonie will rectify.