Six Nations 2024: Italy v Scotland preview as Gonzalo Quesada faces Gregor Townsend

It's been 10 years since Duncy 'Meatball' Weir knocked over the drop-goal to get us out of jail in Rome, a Six Nations game that was symptomatic of a period when Scotland were a little bit turgid to watch.

Fast forward a decade and Scotland are playing enterprising and efficient rugby, are winning big matches on a regular basis and are sitting second in the Six Nations table.

They are also on a 13-match winning run against Italy.

That being said, this is a new Italy under a new coach, Gonzalo Quesada, who is very well respected, especially in France.

He was an assistant coach with France from 2008-11, he was head coach at Racing 92, he won the Top 14 and the European Challenge Cup with Stade Francais. Everybody who has worked with him absolutely loved him as an operator and as a bloke.

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And you can see the changes he has made to this Italy team. The criticism of Italy under his predecessor Kieran Crowley was that they played too much from deep, coughed up ball in their own third and made it easy for the opposition.

Or if they kept the ball and got halfway up the pitch, they were exhausted by the time they got there.

Quesada has forced them to evolve. They are more polished in attack. They were impressive against England, then got blown away by Ireland - but hasn't everyone been so far?

They should have beaten France in Lille. Paolo Garbisi, on any other day, would have won that game with the last kick. They were a ball falling off the kicking tee away from a historic first Six Nations win in France.

Sickening in one sense, but inspirational in another. It will have galvanised them and given them real belief.

These are interesting times in Italian rugby. Their under-20s lost by a single point to a much-heralded Ireland in Cork and then went to Beziers and beat France. There is a growing positivity about the future of the game in Italy.

Cameron Redpath would offer a different threat to Sione Tuipulotu but has impressed in his 2024 Six Nations appearances as a replacement

Scotland might be on their best run against Italy in the Six Nations, but I still think this is going to be a tight Test. I just had lunch with Michele Campagnaro, the former Italian centre, and he was explaining to me how big a target Saturday's game is for Italy.

That was always going to be the case, but especially so after what they almost did to France and after their impressive performance against England.

This is the best crop of Italian players for a long time. They are capable of getting results so this is a big old Test match for Scotland. Knock Italy over, get a bonus point and get to Dublin still in second place. That's the ambition. The visitors to Rome are not exactly lacking in motivation themselves.

I've been really proud of what I've seen from Scotland in the three games so far, but there's something major to contend with this time in that Sione Tuipulotu won't be there.

He's been the anchor of the midfield, the rock upon which Scotland gained the time and space to cause grief to opponents. The loss of his physicality and the break-up of the Finn Russell-Tuipulotu-Huw Jones axis will be felt.

I'm assuming Cameron Redpath will come in and here we see Scotland's strength in depth in certain positions. Redpath has a different profile to Tuipulotu but he's an excellent player. Less physical, but with vision and the ability to take it to the gainline.

He's a wonderfully skilful player and he's done really well off the bench three games in a row. I've enjoyed watching him.

It's traditional to call a trip to Rome a potential banana skin, but that's to downplay the danger in this Italy team, which is loaded with class and tremendous athletes.

And, as a rugby nation, I think they're only going to get stronger, given the performances at under-20 level. Italy will be at the Under-20 World Cup in South Africa in the summer whereas Scotland are still stuck in the second-tier competition, cut adrift from the big boys.

There are good times coming for Italy, but the question is when are they coming? Are they coming this weekend in Rome? Are they going to use the disappointment of the draw that should have been a win against France to derail Scotland's bid for their highest finish in the Six Nations?

Scotland were grateful to Blair Kinghorn for his hat-trick to see off a resilient Italy in the 2023 Six Nations

Gregor Townsend and his players know precisely how hard this is going to be.

Last season at Murrayfield, Italy were pushing hard late on for a try that might have won the game only to get turned over in Scotland's 22, a key moment that saw Blair Kinghorn run away to score down the other end to put a bit of a false picture on the scoreboard.

Nobody in the Scotland camp will have forgotten that.

If Scotland are to win then they will need to be pretty much everything they can be - which is a lot, in fairness. This could be a hugely exciting game.

Finally, a word on Jake Polledri, the Italy back row who has just announced his retirement at the age of 28.

He made his debut against Scotland in 2018 and for every day he spent in the blue jersey he was a rugby gladiator. His passion and commitment must have inspired a generation of young kids in Italy.

His career has ended prematurely and cruelly, but he can be incredibly proud of what he achieved. I hope he is there on Saturday. He deserves an ovation on what will be a special day, for one team if not the other.

Johnnie Beattie was talking to BBC Scotland's Tom English