The first of Saturday's Six Nations matches comes from Murrayfield where Scotland start as firm favourites for their clash with Italy
Scotland v Italy, Saturday 1st February, Edinburgh, KO 16:15 (South African time)
Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (RFU), Damian Schneider (UAR)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Weather Forecast - Edinburgh
Scotland
In the Six Nations last year Scotland finished fourth. They started with a win in Wales (27-26) and a home defeat to France (20-16). After that they won at home to England (30-21) but then went down in Italy (31-29) and Ireland (17-13).
Most recently in the November internationals Scotland beat Fiji (57-17) and then lost to the Springboks (32-15). Thereafter they beat Portugal (59-21) and finished up by seeing off the Wallabies (27-13). Their 2024 mid year tour of North and South America delivered wins over Canada (73-12), USA (42-7), Chile (52-11) and Uruguay (31-19).
In the outright betting markets with WSB Scotland are currently 7/1 to win the title and 13/2 for the triple crown
Fixtures & Results: R1 Italy (h), R2 Ireland (h), R3 England (a), R4 Wales (h), R5 France (a)
Italy
In the 2024 Six Nations Italy finished fifth on the log, winning 2, drawing 1 and losing 2 of their matches. They began by running England close in Rome eventually going down 27-24 before losing 36-0 to Ireland in Dublin. In Round 3 they drew 13-13 in France and they finished with back to back wins at home to Scotland (31-29) and then in Wales (24-21).
In the November internationals on home soil Italy were thrashed 50-18 by Argentina, they edged out Georgia (20-17) and then lost to the All Blacks (29-11). On tour in July last year they lost to Samoa (33-25) but then beat Tonga (36-14) and Japan (42-14).
In the outright betting markets with WSB Italy are currently 150/1 rank outsiders to win the title and they are 5/4 to finish bottom of the standings
Fixtures & Results: R1 Scotland (a), R2 Wales (h), R3 France (h), R4 England (a), R5 Ireland (h)
Team News
Scotland: tbc
Italy: tbc
Head to Head (6 Nations Only)
2024 6N Rome Italy 31-29 Scotland
2023 6N Edinburgh Scotland 26–14 Italy
2022 6N Rome Italy 22–33 Scotland
2021 6N Edinburgh Scotland 52-10 Italy
2020 6N Rome Italy 0-17 Scotland
2019 6N Edinburgh Scotland 33-20 Italy
2018 6N Rome Italy 27-29 Scotland
2017 6N Edinburgh Scotland 29-0 Italy
The Betting
Average early show, to be updated
Scotland -19.5 points at 9/10
Italy +19.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
to follow
Bet: to follow
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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