Scotland vs Italy LIVE rugby: Six Nations 2025 score and latest updates from Edinburgh – UK Times

The teams are out on the Murrayfield turf. Plenty of formalities with Princess Anne (patron of the SRU) greeting the teams today.

Michele Lamaro introduces the members of the Italian side before Finn Russell does likewise for the Scots, all while the band play I would walk 500 miles. Lovely bit of pomp and circumstance

Can Finn Russell steer Scotland to a long-awaited Six Nations success? Ahead of the tournament, we sat down with the fly half to talk data, droughts and what his side are doing differently…

Gregor Townsend explained that Dave Cherry’s form this season and his set-piece accuracy were the key reasons behind the hooker’s surprise return to the Scotland side for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations opener at home to Italy.

The 34-year-old Edinburgh forward’s Test career appeared to be over after he was not selected for a single squad last year following his premature departure from the 2023 World Cup camp due to a concussion sustained when he fell on stairs on a team day off after the pool-stage opener against South Africa.

When Townsend recalled Cherry to his squad for the Six Nations earlier this month, he insisted his absence had not been down to any disciplinary issue relating to the incident at the team hotel in Nice.

Nonetheless, the hooker’s inclusion in the starting line-up for Saturday’s visit of Italy has raised eyebrows, with clubmate Ewan Ashman widely expected to start after emerging as Townsend’s favoured option for the number two jersey since George Turner moved to Japan last summer.

The Scots have gone into recent championships with high hopes but despite several eye-catching results, they have lacked the consistency to finish in the top two since they won the last Five Nations in 1999.

Gregor Townsend’s squad is widely deemed to be in its prime and talismanic co-captain Russell feels that, through several positive and negative experiences, they have nurtured the collective mentality needed to turn their undoubted promise into tangible success.

“I think the last few years we’ve come in with some expectations and with the group that we’ve got, I think it’s quite right to have those expectations,” said the 32-year-old Bath fly-half ahead of today’s opener at home to Italy.

It is a familiar looking Italy side named by Gonzalo Quesada. Tommaso Allan starts at full-back as a second playmaker to fly half Paolo Garbisi, while Dino Lamb is Federico Ruzza’s second row partner. Six forwards are named on a bulky bench, including a potential debutant in the form of loosehead prop Luca Rizzoli.

Italy XV: 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Simone Ferrari; 4 Dino Lamb, 5 Federico Ruzza; 6 Sebastian Negri, 7 Michele Lamaro (capt.), 8 Lorenzo Cannone; 9 Martin Page-Relo, 10 Paolo Garbisi; 11 Monty Ioane, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 14 Ange Capuozzo; 15 Tommaso Allan.

Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Niccolo Cannone, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Ross Vintcent; 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Simone Gesi.

Gregor Townsend hands Stafford McDowall the first opportunity to try to fill the sizeable hole that the injured Sione Tuipulotu leaves at inside centre. The tall McDowall joins Huw Jones in midfield as hooker Dave Cherry is selected for his first appearance since the 2023 World Cup.

Duhan van der Merwe has shaken off injury fears to start on the wing in what looks a tasty backline, while Jonny Gray is a welcome returnee at lock after Scott Cummings was ruled out of the tournament.

Scotland XV: 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Dave Cherry, 3 Zander Fagerson; 4 Jonny Gray, 5 Grant Gilchrist; 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Rory Darge (co-capt.), 8 Matt Fagerson; 9 Ben White, 10 Finn Russell (co-capt.); 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 12 Stafford McDowall, 13 Huw Jones, 14 Darcy Graham; 15 Blair Kinghorn.

Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Gregor Brown, 20 Jack Dempsey; 21 George Horne, 22 Tom Jordan, 23 Kyle Rowe.

In a curious quirk, Darcy Graham – Scotland’s second-highest try-scorer of all time – will play his first Six Nations match in almost three years this weekend. The Edinburgh wing was ruled out of both the 2023 and 2024 championships due to different injury issues. Remarkably, Graham has managed to accumulate 17 tries in the 15 international appearances he has made since his last Six Nations outing away to Ireland in March 2022.

For much of last year, it would have been hard to imagine either Jonny Gray or Dave Cherry starting this Six Nations opener. Lock Gray, 30, was battling to get his career back on track after a year out with a serious knee injury, while his older brother Richie plus Scott Cummings and Grant Gilchrist seemed in command of the second-row berths. Cherry, 34, appeared to be persona non grata as he failed to make a single squad in 2024 following his exit from the 2023 World Cup camp in France with a concussion, which Scottish Rugby revealed was sustained “slipping on hotel stairs, on a team day off”. The stars have aligned for both to return to the pack on Saturday after well over a year out of the Test arena.

With the likes of Michele Lamaro, Paolo Garbisi, Ange Capuozzo, Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello to the fore, Italy arrive at Murrayfield with arguably the strongest squad they have ever had. No longer seen as championship cannon fodder, Gonzalo Quesada’s side will be buoyed by memories of their stirring 31-29 win over Gregor Townsend’s men last March, while they were desperately close to an upset on their last Six Nations visit to Murrayfield two years ago before the Scots broke away to seal victory at the death.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, Scotland were notoriously slow starters in the Six Nations, winning just three of their opening-day fixtures in the first 21 stagings of the championship between 2000 and 2020. Since then, however, they have won each of their last four campaign openers: away to England in 2021, at home to England in 2022, away to England in 2023, and away to Wales in 2024. Italy at home affords the Scots a clear opportunity to extend this run to a fifth year in succession.