I have a confession. During the St Etienne debacle in October last year, I may have offered up a silent prayer to the gods (Roman gods, naturally) that if they’d let Scotland win that one so our World Cup tour stayed on track, then the Italians could have the next Six Nations win in return. So if Bortolussi’s missed kick was indeed caused by a giant invisible digit playing Subbuteo Rugby, my fellow Scotland fans you will only have me to blame if Scotland should lose by a similar twist of fate on Saturday. The Italians may be due a break. However I suppose you could claim that so were we up until last weekend, so it would be nice to see the winning ways continue for Scotland. And let’s not forget that regardless of the Ireland vs England result, this will be the Wooden Spoon decider.
With that in mind, here’s the mostly unchanged team to face the Italians in Rome next weekend, with Danielli the only new starter. It would have been nice to see (another player with an Italian name) Nick De Luca given another chance on the bench, but his time will come.
Backs: Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Simon Webster (Edinburgh), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Nikki Walker (Ospreys), Chris Paterson (Gloucester), Mike Blair (Edinburgh, capt)
Forwards: Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), Euan Murray (Northampton Saints), Nathan Hines (Perpignan), Scott MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Allister Hogg (Edinburgh), Simon Taylor (Stade Francais)
Bench: Scott Lawson (Sale Sharks), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Craig Smith (Edinburgh), Jason White (Sale Sharks), Kelly Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Dan Parks (Glasgow Warriors)
Word is also going round that Andy Robinson’s wife allegedly told Brian Moore to “f**k off” on Saturday, which is something that no doubt many of us have wanted to do from time to time (The Scotsman comments section is rife with “here’s to you, Mrs Robinson” jokes, so I won’t bother). What with Austin Healey having footballs blasted at his, well, balls on the Rugby Club last week, it seems there is a lot of wish fulfilment going around.