Six Nations Digest

Vickery ready to stand aside:England skipper Phil Vickery will resign the captaincy, in mid-season if necessary, if he feels he is not worth his place in the England front row.

With Bath's Matt Stevens currently in fine form, it is not a totally fanciful scenario and Vickery and Brian Ashton, it has emerged, have already discussed the possibility.

"Just because you're captain of the team doesn't mean you'll automatically get selected," acknowledged the 31-year-old Wasps prop, who was appointed England captain 12 months ago and led them to the World Cup final last October.

"If me being captain keeps me in the team for the wrong reasons then I'll chuck someone else the armband. It's not about me, it's about England performing and winning."

England scrumhalf Peter Richards will miss the whole of the Six Nations Championship after undergoing an operation to repair a torn bicep muscle. Richards was injured in London Irish's Heineken European Cup win over Treviso at the weekend and will be out of action for three months.

Head coach Brian Ashton now faces a straight scrumhalf choice between the experienced Andy Gomarsall and the uncapped but in-form Richard Wigglesworth ahead of the opening championship game against Wales on February 2nd.

Ashton will also have to plough on without Simon Shaw while he waits for a definitive word on the Wasps lock, who damaged his foot against Munster at the weekend.

Shaw is off crutches and the outlook is reported to be "very encouraging", but it remains too early to know when he will be back in action.

Italy drop Pez from squad

Italy coach Nick Mallett has left Ramiro Pez out of his 25-man squad for the opening two games Championship.

Mallet, who succeeded Pierre Berbizier in November, has dropped Venezia outhalf Pez for the encounters against Ireland on February 2nd in Croke Park and against England in Rome eight days later.

The meeting with Ireland will mark the debut of Stade Francais' Sergio Parisse as captain of the national team, having taken over the role from Marco Bortolami.

Italy will have to do without Gloucester lock Bortolami, 27, who is unavailable with an eye injury.

ITALY SQUAD - Forwards:Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), CA Del Fava (Ulster), S Dellape (Biarritz), C Festuccia (Racing Metro Paris), L Ghiraldini (Calvisano), A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro Paris), C Nieto (Gloucester), S Parisse (Stade Francais, captain), S Perugini (Toulouse), T Reato (Femi CZ Rovigo), J Sole (Viadana), A Zanni (Calvisano).

Backs:Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), D Bortolussi (Montpellier), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), P Canavosio (Castres), E Galon (Cariparma), A Marcato (Treviso), A Masi (Biarritz), S Picone (Treviso), M Pratichetti (Calvisano), KP Robertson (Viadana), A Sgarbi (Treviso), P Travagli (Cariparma).

Turmoil over for Scotland

Frank Hadden is confident Scotland can build on the improved performances of Edinburgh and Glasgow this season to mount a determined challenge. Only last summer, Scottish rugby was in a state of chaos with the Borders axed as a professional entity and Edinburgh's future up in the air. But Hadden believes Scotland are now close to proving that something positive will emerge from those months of turmoil.

"We didn't necessarily want to contract from three teams to two, but it means the current squads have more depth than we have had a for a while. Our teams in Scotland, on the whole, are very young and what we are finding now is that they are maturing and you would expect them to make progress as a result."