Scotland v Italy, 29 August

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SCOTLAND v ITALY
29 August 2015
KO: 15:15 BST
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Live on BT Sport

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: [TBC]
TMO: [TBC]

A. Head to Head

24 Played 24
16 Won 8
0 Drawn 0
8 Lost 8
540 Points 428

B. Recent Form

22 August 2015
Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin
12–16 to Scotland

28 February 2015
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
19 – 22 to Italy

22 February 2014
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
20 – 21 to Scotland

22 June 2013
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, South Africa
30 – 29 to Scotland

9 February 2013
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
34 – 10 to Scotland

17 March 2012
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
13 – 6 to Italy

20 August 2011
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
23 – 12 to Scotland

19 March 2011
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
21 – 8 to Scotland

C. Teams

SCOTLAND

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 32 caps; 9 tries, 1 pen, 48 points
14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) – 95 caps; 12 tries, 60 points
13 Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors) – 7 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
12 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps, 1 try, 1 con, 1 pen, 10 points
11 Tim Visser (Harlequins); 19 caps; 7 tries, 35 points
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps; 1 try, 1 con, 7 points
09 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester) – 39 caps; 3 tries, 41 cons, 81 pens, 340 points

01 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby) – 45 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
02 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby) – 87 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
03 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
04 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – 9 caps, 1 try, 5 points
05 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps; 1 try, 5 points
06 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
07 John Barclay (Scarlets) – 44 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
08 David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby) – 26 caps

16 Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) – 1 cap
17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors) – 10 caps
18 Jon Welsh (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps; 1 try
19 Robert Harley (Glasgow Warriors) – 16 caps; 1 try, 5 points
20 Blair Cowan (London Irish) – 12 caps; 2 tries, 10 points
21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps; 4 tries, 20 points
22 Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps) – 26 caps; 4 cons, 2 pens, 2 drops, 20 points
23 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) – 27 caps, 3 tries, 15 points

ITALY

15 Luke McLean, 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Leonardo Sarto, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Guglielmo Palazzani; 1 Matias Aguero, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (c), 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 4 Marco Fuser, 5 Joshua Furno, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Francesco Minto, 8 Samuela Vunisa.

Replacements: 16 Andrea Manici, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Quintin Geldenhuys, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Marcello Violi, 22 Carlo Canna, 23 Andrea Masi.

If we beat France I'll be happy. Of we come close I'll be ambivalent (as usual). If we lose by 7 or more I'll be nervous, frankly, for our qf hopes

I didn't watch it but listened to it on the radio and I was planning to put my life savings on Scotland to qualify for the qf of the World Cup at evens(which they were this morning) come back and they are now 8/11. So the bookies must of been impressed today, interesting the radio presenters seemed to think lamont is a shoe-in I would never of thought that 2 months ago.

They also had a debate about who would be captain saying gilchrist isn't nailed on starter but neither are prygos or laidlaw. I would make Jonny Gray captain but vern seems to like Grieg

Thanks for all of the updates, especially Jimbo with his Colemanballs (I'd wager Jim is old enough to understand that reference)...

Bt Sport rugby Twitter feed has some of the tries up

Here's the lot and very good interviews with Dickinson and the Prodigal Son afterwards:

I really have a nagging suspicion that, despite an excellent performance today, Barclay is still going to miss out.

I think only one of Barclay and Hardie will go, and given the efforts gone to bring Hardie over here I've got a suspicion it'll be him! VC really rates him.

Now if Blake makes it over either of those two it'll be a massive shock!

well won Scotland, looked good today.

A Joke if Barclay misses out btw

Just seen the highlights - well done Scotland.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I really have a nagging suspicion that, despite an excellent performance today, Barclay is still going to miss out.

I think only one of Barclay and Hardie will go, and given the efforts gone to bring Hardie over here I've got a suspicion it'll be him! VC really rates him.

Now if Blake makes it over either of those two it'll be a massive shock!

Seeing Barclay interviewed is very interesting.

He does come over as an elder statesman/man of the people/seen it all before sort of thing.

Similarly, I can absolutely see how that's one step from being a bit of an ego.

Impressive performance today. Used the ball well and put great width to their game. Pack dominated for most of the game, strummed well and the work at the breakdown was very good.
Defence was very strong putting Italy under real pressure and forcing them into mistakes.
Scrum and maul was far better this week but line out we did loose a couple on our own throw.

Dickinson was excellent in open play and at scrum time. The new scrum laws have really brought out the best in him.
Nel was also very good and really hit the rucks hard and cleared out well.
Barclay put in a dominant performance at openside, strong at the breakdown causing the Italians problems, tackled hard and carried hard. Good leadership as well in the pack being very vocal.

Finn Russell had one of his best displays at 10. Great vision for the Kick for lamonts first try and for the huge pass for vissers try.
Bennett looked threatening if not quite at 100%. Didn't seem to quite have full sharpness but that will come over the next few weeks.
Lamont was outstanding, lots of graft all over the pitch, tackled hard and hit the rucks hard as well. Threatening in attack and took his two tries well.
Visser looked sharp today, was looking for work and looked hungry. Defence seemed ok for him as well.

Not many negatives from the performance, still not convinced by ryan wilson at international level, just seemed slightly off pace and doesn't have the power to make a big impact.

George Carlin wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I really have a nagging suspicion that, despite an excellent performance today, Barclay is still going to miss out.

I think only one of Barclay and Hardie will go, and given the efforts gone to bring Hardie over here I've got a suspicion it'll be him! VC really rates him.

Now if Blake makes it over either of those two it'll be a massive shock!

Seeing Barclay interviewed is very interesting.

He does come over as an elder statesman/man of the people/seen it all before sort of thing.

Similarly, I can absolutely see how that's one step from being a bit of an ego.

Yeah right.

a lot of people on here have a chip on their shoulder because they themselves were rubbish at sport.

Barclay is class , hes the kind of character who wins matches.

get him in !

alive555 wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I really have a nagging suspicion that, despite an excellent performance today, Barclay is still going to miss out.

I think only one of Barclay and Hardie will go, and given the efforts gone to bring Hardie over here I've got a suspicion it'll be him! VC really rates him.

Now if Blake makes it over either of those two it'll be a massive shock!

Seeing Barclay interviewed is very interesting.

He does come over as an elder statesman/man of the people/seen it all before sort of thing.

Similarly, I can absolutely see how that's one step from being a bit of an ego.

Yeah right.

a lot of people on here have a chip on their shoulder because they themselves were rubbish at sport.

Barclay is class , hes the kind of character who wins matches.

get him in !

I was not rubbish at sport.

Just, you know, mysteriously underappreciated in my time.

While a lot of the positives have been mentioned I would like to add my 2pence worth


Delighted in the style we played. If we can keep that up, teams will start to worry about us

We did not try to arm wrestle

We had a scrum... Yes a real scrum

Worrying our bench was complete and utter pants and we went back to rubbish when they came on


Lamont scored 2 tries. Should keep certain lords a bit quiet

Riskysports wrote:While a lot of the positives have been mentioned I would like to add my 2pence worth


Delighted in the style we played. If we can keep that up, teams will start to worry about us

We did not try to arm wrestle

We had a scrum... Yes a real scrum

Worrying our bench was complete and utter pants and we went back to rubbish when they came on


Lamont scored 2 tries. Should keep certain lords a bit quiet

Absolutely - in the space of one game he's managed to increase his try scoring record by 15%!

George Carlin wrote:Thanks for all of the updates, especially Jimbo with his Colemanballs (I'd wager Jim is old enough to understand that reference)...

Colemanballs???

Did The Messiah open his legs and show his class?

jimbopip wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Thanks for all of the updates, especially Jimbo with his Colemanballs (I'd wager Jim is old enough to understand that reference)...

Colemanballs???

Did The Messiah open his legs and show his class?

George, I must add that I never made it into the Colemanballs column but was once quoted in Private Eye's Pseuds Corner.

In my defence the editor of the Glasgow Uni magazine decided that an article of mine lacked pizzaz and added the pretentious nonsense unbeknownst to me. Just as well he went on to sing as half of Hue And Cry because he would never have made it as a journalist.

jimbopip wrote:George, I must add that I never made it into the Colemanballs column but was once quoted in Private Eye's Pseuds Corner.

In my defence the editor of the Glasgow Uni magazine decided that an article of mine lacked pizzaz and added the pretentious nonsense unbeknownst to me. Just as well he went on to sing as half of Hue And Cry because he would never have made it as a journalist.

Always fun to see where people have ended up.

It's the oldest joke in the world that I was going to join the (Glasgow Uni Union) debating society but someone talked me out of it, but one look at those braying tw@ts was enough to send me straight downstairs to the Beer Bar. My bud from my law course did join and how he's in the Scottish Parliament. Hmm.

Shows what I know. I also remember telling my mate Stuart that calling his band Belle and Sebastian was a bloody silly idea and it would never take off. Unfortunately, he remembers that I did too. At least my judgement of legal affairs seems to be worth something that people are willing to give me money for. I mean, I'm not saying it's good. Just that people are willing to give me money for it.

Just watched the game. Really impressed with the pack, particularly the Edinburgh front row. Probably Ryan Wilson's best game for Scotland as well, although Barclay and Denton were possibly even better.

Nice work in the backs as well. Russell's kick for the opening try was beautifully weighted as was his pass for the Visser walk in. Bennett was lively also, as well as Hogg who looked sharp.

Nice run out, with plenty positives. Good to see Lamont score a couple as well. Last time he did that I think it was Frank Hadden's first 6 Nations......

Is the game available in full anywhere? IPLayer is fine. Never thought to look.

It's on YouTube - full match