Cam Redpath, Andy Christie and George Horne all start in Rome for the penultimate round of Scotland’s 2024 Guinness Six Nations.
Elsewhere the starting XV is largely unchanged with Townsend opting for a 6/2 bench split allowing Matt Fagerson to return to the playing squad alongside Jamie Ritchie.
Not sure who we’ll be relying on if a late drop goal is required…
Aiming to engineer that sort of tough, tight game where Scotland’s will might break in the face of a sellout Italian crowd in the dying minutes, Gonzalo Quesada has named a strong team – possibly the strongest ever, with both backlines at near full strength. On the wing there will be a debut cap for (son of Michael) Louis Lynagh.
Italy: Ange Capuozzo, Louis Lynagh, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Simone Ferrari, Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Sebastian Negri, Michele Lamaro (capt), Ross Vintcent.
Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosuè Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Lorenzo Cannone, Stephen Varney, Leonardo Marin, Federico Mori.
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Cameron Redpath, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, George Horne; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Scott Cummings, Andy Christie, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Alec Hepburn, Elliot Millar-Mills, Sam Skinner, Jamie Ritchie, Matt Fagerson, Ali Price, Kyle Rowe
16 Responses
Trying to run them off the pitch, 7s style.
No proper 10 replacement, back replacements interesting.
Lack of physicality
Right that’s my whines out the way.
Potentially very exciting and could be absolutely thrilling.
Looks a strong team even with a few changes. pleased for Horne and Christie getting starts. Redpath/Finn know each other well so will be interesting to see if anything changes in the way they attack. bench looks decent.
Dempsey needs to be a bit more visible i feel, as been a bit quiet.
if we can shut down Italy in attack, we should have enough. and hope for a relaxed watch (never usually happens for me anyway!).
I can’t agree with you I thought Dempsey was outstanding against England, definitely the pick of the forwards. All about opinions I suppose.
Fair enough. may need to re-watch. He thought he got involved in the close quarters. but want to see him breaking the gainline and making yards. if Christie Darge and Dempsey can dominate, Italy will struggle i think.
The lack of stand-off / centre cover is my only concern with that selection.
Surely Hutchison would have been a more flexible option off the bench.
Steyn will cover centre, BK covers 10 I imagine. Rowe covers back three.
Lack of stand off, only the guy who scored a hat trick last time we played Italy, 2 of them coming from him as first receiver at 10 that day.
What does Hutchinson have that makes you think he is a better 10 than Kinghorn? Arguably he has played at 10 a lot less than Kinghorn has.
Ironically Healy would have covered 10/15 and allowed for a utility/centre like Hutchinson on the bench. I hate 6/2.
Were you at that last game sir?
BK did score 3 tries but Scotland were within a step of losing that game and BK merely confirmed that he can’t play 10 (good player but never a 10)
Kinghorn has never shown that he is adequate 10 cover. I just don’t get what GT sees there.
He is more a winger ,imo, where his poor tackling is less significant. He is like Hogg in the sense he is a terrible last line of defense.
Not a fan of 6-2 splits and don’t think it suits our play style at all.
Disappointing bench again from Townsend. No Bradbury, Matthews, Hutchinson and Dobie would be a better replacement than Price.
I love this team! Tui and White aside this is basically the team I’d have picked from the start of the tournament! Christie in, 6-2, 2x back row off the bench! Love it!
I don’t understand the two back row forwards on the bench, Fagerson hardly set the heather alight in the first two games, why bring him back now. If it’s a 6/2 split why not put Glen Young on the bench as we need to improve our second row options going forward.
Decent selection I think…. bit surprised Stafford McD is not on the bench as he can cover centre and full back. Would have gone 5/3 and included him, especially since I think Darge and Dempsey can play 80 mins, and Redpath who I rate massively does tend to get in the wars.
Not entirely sure what the game plan will be but I assume from this selection we plan to wrestle up front, and deny their backs any ball. Can’t wait, always travel for this fixture – not least the food and weather.
I like Horne in..but as always he will be played as a Townsend 9 always does…shackled and wasted.Draw the sting out of him..chuck him on the pitch and chuck the ball to Russell..that’s it..Hoof’s aside.
But maybe no this time.Horne has subtlety in his feet.I hope it’s seen.Take some weight off Russell and as a consequence Russell becomes an effective decoy.
Townsend has his back to watch these days,nobody else is and appears more insecure.His disclosure of his faults during the36-all England game were telling.
Mark of respect that basically playing the best possible XV against Italy.
Russell, Redpath, Jones – has me salivating.
I’m growing to like Toonie – like Finn he comes across as increasingly mature and comfortable in his own skin. And there is a consistency of selection. I also love that Scotland continue to top the kicking stats – I hope Horne is on script. If he can show that to his game then suddenly we have a mature Scotland way of playing, while the blue touch paper can be lit at any point.
Hope the forwards know they are competing to play against Ireland. Dublin is the acid test for everything.
Very tasty weekend. Come on England too ????