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Italy and Scotland meet at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico as their Guinness Men’s Six Nations campaigns get underway on Saturday.
Last season Scotland enjoyed a 31-19 victory at Murrayfield and Gregor Townsend’s team finished fourth with 11 points, one place and six points above Gonzalo Quesada’s Italy.
The teams have developed a strong rivalry on the field in recent seasons, and their clash in the Eternal City is likely to add another memorable 80 minutes to a fixture that is becoming harder to predict every season.
Memories of 2024
Two years ago, the sides met in Round 4. Italy had narrowly lost at home to England, were flogged 36-0 by Ireland in Dublin and had then won their first point under Quesada with a draw away to France. Scotland had squeaked past Wales by a point in Cardiff, lost by four points to France in Murrayfield, and then won the Calcutta Cup by beating England 30-21.
Confidence was high among the Tartan Army heading to Rome, but their dreams of a best Championship finish ended on the banks of the Tiber as Paolo Garbisi and Azzurri debutant Louis Lynagh inspired a second half comeback to win 31-29.
Italy rode their newfound confidence to a best finish by beating Wales at the Principality Stadium, while Scotland ended with another defeat, to Ireland in Dublin
Autumn Blues
The teams faced contrasting situations in the Quilter Autumn Series. Italy finished with two from two, after victories over Australia and Chile. The former gave the first choice team a huge boost, with their second consecutive victory over the Wallabies, while the latter meant Quesada could give some of Italy’s young guns a chance.
Scotland meanwhile suffered another pair of defeats that will live long in the memory. The first came after they fought back to tie with New Zealand before letting a maiden win over the All Blacks slip away, and the second came after Argentina turned around a 21-0 deficit to leave Murrayfield victorious.
Victories over USA and Murrayfield couldn’t lessen the Scottish delusion, and there will be little understanding if they lose again. Italy expects and they will be anticipating, not hoping, for another international win.
Team Spine
Italy and Scotland have similar structures. Two teams that play in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and give local talent the chance to shine, while the superstars move on to the giants of Gallagher PREM Rugby and Top 14. For Finn Russell at Bath, read Paolo Garbisi at Toulon.
Of each country’s pair of clubs there is a definite big brother – Benetton in Italy and Glasgow Warriors, in Scotland. Both provide the bulk of each team’s squad, and each nation’s captain; Michele Lamaro for Italy and Sione Tuipulotu for Scotland. The other teams, Zebre, and Edinburgh, are less successful but useful stables of young talent.
Glasgow are in raging form; top of the URC and four from four in the Investec Champions Cup. Benetton are in the bottom half of the URC table but won all four of their EPRC Challenge Cup pool fixtures.
Franco Smith, a former Italy head coach, in charge of the Warriors, has handed Townsend a boost with centre Huw Jones’ return to action. He returned in the Champions Cup with a try, his first action since the third Lions test in July 2025. Jones has played twice more, to fill a hole that was left gaping in the autumn.
Bottom Line
The long and the short of it is that Italy and Scotland need to win. They may both be confident and have the belief that they can beat anybody, but form and recent history suggest otherwise.
In the following two weeks, Italy will travel to Ireland, a place where they have rarely given a good account of themselves, and France in Lille. The Azzurri came close to winning there two years ago, but that was a France team that was in disarray after the 2023 World Cup.
Scotland will welcome England to Edinburgh. They have had the best of them in recent years, and could have won at Allianz Stadium last year, but this England team are on a run of 11 (12 if they beat Wales in Round 1) victories and are a more resilient beast these days. Then comes Wales away, so you can understand why Scotland feel a win in Rome could set them up for a strong showing once they return after the fallow week.
Then there is the injury factor that is more pronounced with the first fallow week closed from this year on. It is a change that is likely to be felt more by Italy, Scotland, and Wales, than France, England, and Ireland, squads with greater depth. There will be less time to patch up injured players and send them back into action, which means an early victory is more imperative than usual this year.
