Six Nations 2021: Scotland v Italy preview, team news & key stats

Scotland playmaker Finn Russell suffered a concussion against Ireland last weekend and will miss the visit of Italy

Scotland take on Italy on Saturday looking to get their Six Nations back on track after back-to-back defeats.

Hopes were high for Gregor Townsend's side after they began the tournament by beating England at Twickenham.

But home defeats by Wales and Ireland brought them back down to earth.

Italy will be desperate to avoid another whitewash following a chastening tournament which has seen them lose all four games, conceding 40 plus points in each encounter.

Scotland are fifth in the standings but have a game in hand after their match against France was postponed because of a coronavirus outbreak in the French camp.

The game has been rearranged for Friday, 26 March, and back-to-back bonus-point wins could result in Townsend's side finishing second in the table.

• Six Nations permutations and BBC coverage

• France v Scotland rearranged for 26 March

Skipper Stuart Hogg starts at fly-half for Scotland for the first time in a new-look half-back pairing alongside Scott Steele.

Hogg replaces Finn Russell who suffered a concussion against Ireland, while scrum-half Steele makes his full debut in one of seven new faces for the Dark Blues.

Centre Federico Mori, 20, starts for Italy in one of four changes from the side that lost to Wales.

The other change in the backline is at full-back, Edoardo Padovani coming in for Jacopo Trulla, while in the pack lock Federico Ruzza and prop Marco Riccioni come in.

France and Scotland's round three fixture was postponed, leaving them with an extra game still to play

Commentator's notes

Andrew Cotter: One of the less glamorous fixtures made far more interesting by the prospect of seeing Stuart Hogg playing at fly-half in a much-changed Scotland side, where the renewed attacking talents of Huw Jones return to the centre and Scott Steele gets a start at scrum-half. Up front, Zander Fagerson is back from his ban at tight-head prop and Sam Skinner and Grant Gilchrist are in the second row for the injured Jonny Gray and Scott Cummings.

Remarkably, it was six years ago at Murrayfield that Italy last won a Six Nations match and a repeat of that result is unthinkable. Two home games for Scotland have brought narrow and painful defeats against Wales and Ireland. On Saturday only a comfortable victory will do.

View from both camps

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend on Stuart Hogg playing at fly-half: "Hoggy obviously covered 10 last week and has done so in previous games. We believe that gives us a better balance to the team.

"I think Stuart is one of the best full-backs in the world. Full-back is his position but given his experience, his leadership, his ability and all-round skill-set, we see him being able to cover other positions as required."

Italy head coach Franco Smith: "We have a big challenge ahead of us. Our work during the week was excellent. We want to win on Saturday, closing the tournament in the best possible way and continuing on the path of becoming more and more competitive."

Line-ups

Scotland: 15-Sean Maitland, 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Huw Jones, 12-Sam Johnson, 11-Duhan van der Merwe, 10-Stuart Hogg (capt), 9-Scott Steele; 1-Rory Sutherland, 2-David Cherry, 3-Zander Fagerson, 4-Sam Skinner, 5-Grant Gilchrist, 6-Jamie Ritchie, 7-Hamish Watson, 8-Matt Fagerson

Replacements: 16-George Turner, 17. Jamie Bhatti, 18. Simon Berghan, 19. Alex Craig, 20. Nick Haining, 21. Ali Price, 22. Jaco van der Walt, 23. Chris Harris

Italy: 15-Edoardo Padovani, 14-Mattia Bellini, 13-Juan Ignacio Brex, 12-Federico Mori, 11-Montanna Ioane, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Stephen Varney; 1-Danilo Fischetti, 2-Luca Bigi (capt), 3-Marco Riccioni, 4-Niccolo Cannone, 5-Federico Ruzza, 6-Sebastian Negri, 7-Johan Meyer, 8-Michele Lamaro

Replacements: 16-Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17-Andrea Lovotti, 18- Giosue Zilocchi, 19-Riccardo Favretto, 20-Maxime Mbanda, 21-Marcello Violi, 22-Carlo Canna, 23-Marco Zanon

Match facts

Head-to-head

• Italy's only win in their last 32 Six Nations matches came against Scotland in February 2015.

• Scotland have scored 34 tries in the last eight meetings.

Scotland

• Scotland have lost three home games in a row for the first time since March 2015.

• Their goal kicking success rate (71%) is the lowest in the 2021 Six Nations.

• Huw Jones has scored 11 Test tries since his debut in 2016 - only Sean Maitland (12) has more in that period.

Italy

• Italy have lost their last 13 consecutive matches in all competitions.

• The Azzurri have only won 12 Six Nations games since they joined the tournament in 2000 and have conceded a try-scoring bonus point in 19 of 24 matches since they were introduced in 2017.

• Seven of those 12 victories have come against Scotland.

Match officials

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)

Touch judges: Karl Dickson (England) & Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

TMO: Alex Ruiz (France)