Scotland looking to avoid embarrassment of Six Nations wooden spoon
If rugby matches lasted 75 minutes the Tartan Army would be marching to Rome full of confidence on the back of a morale boosting victory over Wales. But after conceding 17 points and going down to 13 men in a crazy five minutes in Cardiff, Scotland, who are 4/7 (Paddy Power) to win, face a potential wooden spoon decider against Italy (7/4 with StanJames) to win the match.
Whoever loses this game will almost certainly be propping up the table at the end of the tournament so if you think Italy can overturn Scotland then rather than take the 7/4 for an Italy win, you should consider the 15/8 on offer with WilliamHill for
Scotland to finish last. Italy are 1/2 (BetFred) to finish last.
Scotland coach Andy Robinson has often talked about his desire for his side to play a more expansive game and they showed some evidence of that against Wales. If Scotland look to neutralise the threat of the Italian forwards and play with a bit width to their game the first try of the match could go to a Scottish back. Stade Francais full back Hugo Southwell (16/1 Paddy Power), in for the injured Chris Paterson, is a fine footballer who looks for space and has the pace to exploit it.
This is a match that Italy coach Nick Mallett will have been targeting and after running England close many may fancy a home win. However despite their undoubted strength up front and a knack to make life difficult for opponents their ability to rack up points must still be a concern for the coach and fans. Their only try so far in the tournament came as a result of a charge down in the first game against Ireland, and they failed to break the England defence once. Even though they ran England close in the eternal city, Italy looked like they could played for an eternity with outscoring a try.
Scotland appear to have more ideas in attack than their opponents and if they can produce a 80 minute performance as opposed to a 75 minute one they should be good enough to triumph by around 6-10 points (5/1 Bet 365).