Italian sports fans have been staying up to the early hours this week following the progress of Luna Rossa in the America's Cup trials in New Zealand. Today is a new dawn for Italian rugby but the Azzurri are not just becalmed, they are sailing into uncharted waters.
With visits to Cardiff, Dublin and Paris in prospect in their first season in the Six Nations, Italy must perform well at Rome's Flaminio Stadium this afternoon or they will hit the rocks as they did last year when they conceded 101 points to both South Africa last summer and then to the All Blacks in a disastrous World Cup campaign in the autumn.
Ian McGeechan, back at the helm for the Scots, was making all the right diplomatic noises as the Five Nations champions touched down in Rome.
"We've not travelled particularly well to Italy but there are other factors that make this a very dangerous fixture for us. It's Italy's first championship match and they will be eager to do well in front of their home crowd and keen to make an early impression, especially under their new coach. Some of their early play in the World Cup was very promising but they fell away because of lack of confidence." But both coaches, McGeechan and Italy's Brad Johnstone, know Italy's job today will be damage-limitation. Scotland won the final Five Nations championship in imperious style last spring. They scored 16 tries and played a brand of quick, counter-attacking rugby which served them well in the World Cup. The midfield combination of Gregor Townsend and John Leslie clicked into gear from the opening seconds of that memorable game against Wales, when Leslie scored the fastest try in the championship's history.
Leslie has returned after a winter off nursing a damaged ankle in his native New Zealand but McGeechan is convinced he is match-fit after his training in New Zealand. McGeechan has papered over the cracks since the retirement of Leslie's centre partner Alan Tait and the scrum-half Gary Armstrong by introducing the hefty Bristol player Jamie Mayer in the three-quarters and the old head Bryan Redpath at number nine.
These are changes that will not weaken Scotland: Redpath is a better passer than Armstrong, though he lacks the same ability to make that decisive break and the former captain's physical, nagging presence. Up front, too, the Scots look capable of coping with the physical challenge of their Six Nations opponents. But at number eight they still badly miss the power of Eric Peters.
ITALY: M Pini (Brive); D Dallan (Treviso), M Dallan (Treviso), L Martin (Begles-Bordeaux), C Stoica (Narbonne); D Dominguez (Stade Francais), A Troncon (Montferrand, capt); M Cuttitta (Calvisano), A Moscardi (Treviso), T Paoletti (Piacenza), C Checchinato (Treviso), A Gritti (Treviso), M Giovanelli (Rovigo), W Bergamasco (Padua), W Visser (Treviso). Replacements: A Scanavacca, M Rivaro, M Mazzantini, A Persico, G Lanzi, G De Carli, C Orlandi.
SCOTLAND: G Metcalfe (Glasgow); S Longstaff (Glasgow), J Mayer (Bristol), J Leslie (Newcastle, capt), K Logan (Wasps); G Townsend (Brive), B Redpath (Narbonne); T Smith (Brive), G Bulloch (Glasgow), M Stewart (Northampton), S Murray (Saracens), S Grimes (Newcastle), M Leslie (Edinburgh), B Pountney (Northampton), G Simpson (Glasgow). Replacements: A Nicol (Glasgow), D Hodge (Edinburgh), J McLaren (Bourgoin), D Hilton (Glasgow), R Russell (Saracens), D Weir (Newcastle), S Reid (Narbonne).
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).
