Italy v Scotland, 22 February

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Italy  v Scotland 

Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Saturday 22 February 2014
KO 14:30

Referee: Steve Walsh (ARU)
First Assistant: Jérôme Garces (FFR)
Second Assistant: Luke Pearce (RFU)
TMO: Geoff Warren (RFU)

A. Squads

1. Italy

Forwards: Martin Castrogiovanni (Toulon/FRA), Lorenzo Cittadini (Treviso), Alberto De Marchi (Treviso), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso), Davide Giazzon (Zebre), Marco Bortolami (Zebre), Francesco Minto (Treviso), Quintin Geldenhuys (Zebre), Antonio Pavanello (Treviso), Robert Barbieri (Treviso), Mauro Bergamasco (Zebre), Paul Derbyshire (Treviso), Joshua Furno (Biarritz/FRA), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais/FRA), Alessandro Zanni (Treviso)

Backs: Tobias Botes (Treviso), Edoardo Gori (Treviso), Tommaso Allan (Perpignan/FRA), Luciano Orquera (Zebre), Tommaso Benvenuti (Perpignan/FRA), Michele Campagnaro (Treviso), Gonzalo Garcia (Zebre), Alberto Sgarbi (Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Rovigo), Angelo Esposito (Treviso), Tommaso Iannone (Zebre), Luke McLean (Treviso), Guglielmo Palazzani (Zebre), Leonardo Sarto (Zebre)

2. Scotland

Forwards: John Beattie (Montpellier), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, David Denton, Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (all Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Grant, Jonny Gray (both Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Jim Hamilton (Montpellier), Robert Harley (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), Kieran Low (London Irish), Moray Low, Pat MacArthur (both Glasgow Warriors), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby) Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Tim Swinson and Ryan Wilson (both Glasgow Warriors).

Backs: Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh Rugby), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Max Evans (Castres), Dougie Fife (Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg, Ruaridh Jackson, Sean Lamont (all Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby), Sean Maitland (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby) and Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors).
 
B. Previous Form

9 February 2013: Scotland 34-10 Italy

17 March 2012: Italy 13-6 Scotland

19 March 2011: Scotland 21-8 Italy

C. Teams

1. Italy

15 Luke MCLEAN (Benetton Treviso, 54 caps)
14 Angelo ESPOSITO (Benetton Treviso, 1 cap)
13 Michele CAMPAGNARO (Benetton Treviso, 4 caps)
12 Gonzalo GARCIA (Zebre Rugby, 30 caps)
11 Leonardo SARTO (Zebre Rugby, 4 caps)
10 Tommaso ALLAN (Perpignan, 5 caps)
9 Edoardo GORI (Benetton Treviso, 31 caps)

8 Sergio PARISSE (Stade Francais, 103 caps)(c)
7 Robert BARBIERI (Benetton Treviso, 32 caps)
6 Alessandro ZANNI (Benetton Treviso, 82 caps)
5 Joshua FURNO (Biarritz Olympique, 15 caps)
4 Quintin GELDENHUYS (Zebre Rugby, 43 caps)
3 Martin CASTROGIOVANNI (Toulon RC, 103 caps)
2 Leonardo GHIRALDINI (Benetton Treviso, 61 caps)
1 Alberto DE MARCHI (Benetton Treviso, 14 caps)

Substitutes:

16 Davide GIAZZON (Zebre Rugby, 17 caps)
17 Matias AGUERO (Zebre Rugby, 22 caps)
18 Lorenzo CITTADINI (Benetton Treviso, 29 caps)
19 Marco BORTOLAMI (Zebre Rugby, 101 caps)
20 Paul DERBYSHIRE (Benetton Treviso, 20 caps)
21 Tobias Weitz BOTES (Benetton Treviso, 21 caps)
22 Luciano ORQUERA (Zebre Rugby, 38 caps)
23 Tommaso IANNONE (Zebre, 8 caps)

2. Scotland

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)
14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors)
13 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors)
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby)
11 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors)
10 Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) capitano

8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier)
7 Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors)
6 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors)
5 Jim Hamilton (Montpellier)
4 Richie Gray (Castres)
3 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors)
2 Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons)
1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors)

Substitutes

16 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)
17 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby)
18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby)
19 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors
20 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby)
21 Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors) 

22 Duncan Taylor (Saracens)
23 Max Evans (Castres)

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:This going to be grim today.    Win lose or draw - we will not get rid of Johnson.  There are too many creepy little cowards at the SRU to front up.   The whole situation is very sad for Scottish rugby.

I would've thought that the condition of Cotter's offer was that he would only come in if he could select his assistant coaches?

That pic of Susan Boyle is making me throw up in my mouth a little bit... How about a picture of actress Kelly Macdonald next time? She always did it for me! Who's the Italian lady?

aucklandlaurie wrote:
Any of you Scottish guys know if its true that Danny Brough might be going to Rugby Union?

Please    (crying slightly desperately)

But I thought he signed a 5 year contract in the Summer so I doubt it   

The Saint wrote:That pic of Susan Boyle is making me throw up in my mouth a little bit... How about a picture of actress Kelly Macdonald next time? She always did it for me! Who's the Italian lady?

Oi! How dare you disrespect beast SuBo!



She NEEDS to be our coach  (along with Peter Capaldi).

When we support Scotland we lose. Should we support Italy?

ITALIA! ITALIA! ITALIA!

MON SCOTLAND!!!!!   

o plop, Andy Nichol is in the commentary box... prepare for 80 minutes of on field AND off field dross

Big game here for Scotland. I really hope they get something out of this as its the only game I can see them with a chance of winning.

Big Jim with two Lineout steals... Not a bad start for him.

Is Ford now playing hooker for Italy?

Come on Scotland, only 6.30am here. Please make it worth my while for getting up at this time on a Saturday.

lineout better now... if only laidlaw had quicker service...

Have we won more line out in this 10 mins than we have in the last two games?

Argybargy wrote:Is Ford now playing hooker for Italy?

Ghiraldini has been linked with Tigers. With his start they won't be able to tell the difference between him and Tom Youngs* ).

*I know Tigers fans, he's fine at AP level.

Tramptastic wrote:lineout better now... if only laidlaw had quicker service...

He has been crabbing sideways far too much and is really slowing down the Scottish backs who look well up for this.

Walsh has decided low is at fault every time - going to be a long afternoon

B91212 wrote:

Argybargy wrote:Is Ford now playing hooker for Italy?

Ghiraldini has been linked with Tigers. With his start they won't be able to tell the difference between him and Tom Youngs* ).

*I know Tigers fans, he's fine at AP level.

Better than Hartley at AP level   

Our defence really looks very light weight ... It used to be one of our greatest strengths only a couple of years ago.

nathan wrote:

B91212 wrote:

Argybargy wrote:Is Ford now playing hooker for Italy?

Ghiraldini has been linked with Tigers. With his start they won't be able to tell the difference between him and Tom Youngs* ).

*I know Tigers fans, he's fine at AP level.

Better than Hartley at AP level   

Morning Nathan  

Our attack is far too lateral - not tying any players up

That's a massive boot on Hogg...

B91212 wrote:

nathan wrote:

B91212 wrote:

Argybargy wrote:Is Ford now playing hooker for Italy?

Ghiraldini has been linked with Tigers. With his start they won't be able to tell the difference between him and Tom Youngs* ).

*I know Tigers fans, he's fine at AP level.

Better than Hartley at AP level   

Morning Nathan  

Morning! I'm sure you could of guessed it would of been me to reply to that comment!   



I see we've gone back to feeding into the second row at scrum time.

Walsh ain't giving us anything. Keeps penalising low when it's the Italian prop pulling the scrum down.

Great skill by Lawson, dummied everybody, even himself  

The Saint wrote:That pic of Susan Boyle is making me throw up in my mouth a little bit... How about a picture of actress Kelly Macdonald next time? She always did it for me! Who's the Italian lady?

The astonishing Monica Belluci. And yes, I was making a tongue in cheek statement about which nation tends to be in the shallower end of the gene pool in the looks department...

Gray seems to spend most of his time on his erse....

That looked an early shove from Italy there...

Moray Low is getting pasted in the scrum (again) and like in the England game hes been told to get his head in the gap.  Against Marler he kept going for head on head, and seems to be doing it again.  Which club is it just signed Low?  Cause hes rubbish.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Moray Low is getting pasted in the scrum (again) and like in the England game hes been told to get his head in the gap.  Against Marler he kept going for head on head, and seems to be doing it again.  Which club is it just signed Low?  Cause hes rubbish.

Think it's   

Duncan Weir is having a shocker.

The longer this game goes on, the more I fear for Scotland.

He was in his Frak feet Walsh. You penalise us for holding on, you need to penalise them too.

Far better Scottish performance better not be undone by Frak inconsistent reffing

Can't believe Weir didn't give that to Lamont.

tigertattie wrote:He was in his Frak feet Walsh. You penalise us for holding on, you need to penalise them too.

Far better Scottish performance better not be undone by Frak inconsistent reffing

he was on his feet, but as he explained they were reaching past the ball then resting on their hands which is being off your feet. Ireland do it too, but didn't get pinged for it last week.

tigertattie wrote:He was in his Frak feet Walsh. You penalise us for holding on, you need to penalise them too.

Far better Scottish performance better not be undone by Frak inconsistent reffing

Once Walsh makes up his mind your generally boned (being English we have first hand experience of this).

Scotland drew the fullback from Italy into the defensive line there, it was screaming for a chip as nobody was home.

Need our backs to change the angle. Everyone is running straight

is that a spar advert i see on the pitch side advertising lol

Sealing off? That was a harsh call there by Walsh.

Nachos Jones wrote:Sealing off? That was a harsh call there by Walsh.

i thought it was holding on, but not sealing off.

Moray Low tactically subbed off before hlaf time - ouch.

FFS...

We're not allowed to ruck anymore but if refs will let Castro lay on the ball give him a fecking shoeing.

Leads to a scrum then a try.

Fecking ridiculous reffing.

nathan wrote:

Nachos Jones wrote:Sealing off? That was a harsh call there by Walsh.

i thought it was holding on, but not sealing off.

Thought Walsh said sealing off so I guess I stand corrected.

Excellent try for Italy there, that will knock Scotlands confidence.

Walsh costing us a try there - awful decision

Sorry Scotland, but I think Walsh has already decided who is going to win this one.

Can we tactically change the ref?

Get in there  

Tommy Judas Alan how could you

Artful_Dodger wrote:Moray Low tactically subbed off before hlaf time - ouch.

This is an humiliation for a prop..