Louis Lynagh to make Italy debut in Six Nations tussle against Scotland | Six Nations 2024

Luis Reiner, the son of former Australian fly-half Michael, will make his debut for Italy in this weekend’s Six Nations match against Scotland after head coach Gonzalo Quesada named him on the side’s wing. Become.

The son of an Italian mother, Raina was born and raised in Italy and played for England at under-20 level, but although he was called up to the training squad under manager Eddie Jones, he failed to win a cap and has since been replaced by Steve Jones. – Has not participated in the league. Borthwick’s plan. His selection to the Italy squad comes after his contract with Harlequins was confirmed last month, after he announced he would play club rugby for Benetton in Italy next season.

With Lina on the wing, Tommaso Menonchero returned to the center alongside Ignacio Brex, while Federico Mori dropped to the bench. Sebastian Negri, a flanker who missed the last two games due to injury, returns to the team in place of Riccardo Favret. The only change from last month’s game against France was prop Simone Ferrari replacing Giosue Girocchi.

Ross Vincent, who started for the first time in the final game against France, retained his No. 8 spot, with Martin Page-Lillo again preferred at scrum-half and Stephen Varney on the bench.

Saturday’s game, played at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, was Italy’s last home game in this year’s Six Nations and was sold out with 69,869 tickets sold. Scotland are the team Italy have defeated the most in Six Nations history, but the most recent of those seven wins came at Murrayfield in 2015, with the last win against Scotland in Rome coming in 2012. dates back to

Townsend says there’s more to come from Scotland

Gregor Townsend will be desperate for Scotland to reach their highest level of performance over the next two weeks as they aim for their first top-two finish in the Six Nations era. Scotland sit second in the Championship table, one point ahead of England and three ahead of France, as they prepare for a match away to Italy this Saturday and Grand Slam-chasing Ireland next week. .

Townsend has seen his side beat Wales and England and come agonizingly close to defeating France, but he feels they are not yet in top gear. “It’s kind of happy,” he said, looking back on his campaigns so far. “It would of course be pleasing for the team to have defeated England and retained the Calcutta Cup. But in terms of performance, we are a bit away from what we know we can achieve.”

Scotland know that even a win in Rome on Saturday may not be enough to prevent Ireland clinching the title against England later in the day. If the Irishman fails against Twickenham, it could pave the way for last weekend’s title decider between Ireland and Scotland in Dublin.

Asked if finishing second would be a good result for the Scot, who has never finished higher than third this century, Townsend said: It’s all an improvement based on what we’ve done over the past few years. We are focused on performance and although we have improved in some cases since the World Cup and last year’s Six Nations, we know this team is still not at the level we believe. ”

Townsend made three changes to his squad for the match at the Stadio Olimpico. Full scrum-half Ben White was rested following a busy schedule with Toulon, paving the way for Glasgow’s George Horne to make his first start since the 2019 World Cup, with the experienced Ali Price ( (who had not participated in the championship until now) can now participate. be promoted to the bench.

Saracens’ in-form back-rower Andy Christie replaces the benched Jamie Ritchie, while Bath’s Cam Red replaces Glasgow’s powerful center Sione Tuipulotu, who is out for the remainder of the game with a knee injury. Pass will be in attendance.