Six Nations 2023: Scotland v Italy match preview, team news, standings & key stats

Scotland face Italy at Murrayfield bidding to sign off their Six Nations in style against the championship's bottom-placed team.

The hosts will aim to bounce back from a bruising defeat to title-favourites Ireland, while victory is likely to secure third place in the table.

An improved Italy have impressed with their performances in this tournament, although they remain winless.

Their last Six Nations victory against Scotland came in Edinburgh in 2015.

Head coach Gregor Townsend has made four changes for Saturday's contest, with fly-half Finn Russell, full-back Stuart Hogg and second row Richie Gray all ruled out by injury.

It means that Ollie Smith makes his Six Nations debut at 15, while Blair Kinghorn comes in for Russell at 10.

Gray is replaced by Sam Skinner, who starts in this year's tournament for the first time, and Hamish Watson is preferred to Matt Fagerson in the back row, with captain Jamie Ritchie switching flanks.

Former Ireland Under-20 international and Munster fly-half Ben Healy could make his Scotland debut from the bench.

Italy make four changes of their own, with 21-year-old Zebre winger Simone Gesi making his debut in place of Edoardo Padovani.

Scrum-half Alessandro Fusco comes in for Stephen Varney to make his first start of this year's championship, second row Edoardo Iachizzi makes a first Test start in place of Niccolo Cannone and prop Marco Riccioni is preferred to Simone Ferrari.

Replacement prop scrum-half Alessandro Garbisi could make his first Six Nations appearance alongside brother and starting fly-half Paolo should he come on.

Andrew Cotter: Both sides are showing the wear and tear of the championship now, but Scotland have to show that they can prosper even without their two biggest names in Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg.

It's only due to those two that somebody of Blair Kinghorn's talent has spent so much time on the bench and he'll be keen to take control at fly-half again with good memories of this fixture after a hat-trick of tries from the wing in 2019.

Italy are also still without their brightest star in full-back Ange Capuozzo, yet there is a feeling that Kieran Crowley's side is worth more than their four defeats so far and that they are creating enough chances to be a danger.

The Azzurri might not have won this fixture since 2015 but Scotland will still have to be close to their best to ensure that their championship finishes as well as it began.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: "Italy have taken on the same teams that we have played and two of those are the best in the world right now. They've run them really close.

"The Ireland game was very close, I think it was 25-21, within four points for a long period. Against France they were seven points down with a five-metre line-out in the 80th minute and had already won a penalty try off a driven maul.

"Those two games could have gone in their favour and nobody would have said they didn't deserve it.

"They've beaten Australia in November, they beat Wales away last year. They are growing and the way they play puts teams under pressure because they attack from everywhere."

Italy head coach Kieran Crowley: "We were disappointed with the performance against Wales - we addressed that during the week and are looking forward to Saturday's match against a very good team in Scotland."

Scotland: 15-Smith; 14-Steyn, 13-Jones, 12-Tuipulotu, 11- Van der Merwe; 10-Kinghorn, 9-White; 1-Schoeman, 2-Turner, 3-Zander Fagerson, 4-Skinner, 5-Jonny Gray, 6-Ritchie (capt), 7-Watson, 8-Dempsey

Replacements: 16-Ashman, 17-Sutherland, 18-Nel, 19-Cummings, 20-Matt Fagerson, 21-Price, 22-Healy, 23-Redpath

Italy: 15-Allan; 14-Bruno, 13-Brex, 12- Menoncello, 11-Gesi;10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Fusco; 1-Fischetti, 2-Nicotera, 3-Riccioni, 4-Iachizzi, 5-Ruzza, 6-Negri, 7- Lamaro (capt), 8-Lorenzo Cannone

Replacements: 16-Manfredi, 17-Zani, 18-Ceccarelli, 19-Niccolo Cannone, 20-Pettinelli, 21-Zuliani, 22-Alessandro Garbisi, 23-Morisi

Head-to-head

Scotland

Italy

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

Touch judges: Matthew Carley (England) & Craig Evans (Wales)

TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)