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

Louis Lynagh, the son of former Australia fly-half Michael, will make his debut for Italy in their Six Nations meeting with Scotland this weekend after the head coach, Gonzalo Quesada, named the wing in his team.

Lynagh, whose mother is Italian, was born in Italy and played at Under-20 level for England where he grew up but while he was called into a training squad under Eddie Jones, he did not win a cap and has not since featured in Steve Borthwick’s plans. His selection for Italy comes after he announced he would play his club rugby at Benetton in Italy next season, with his signing from Harlequins confirmed last month.

With Lynagh on the wing, Tommaso Menoncello moves back to centre alongside Ignacio Brex, with Federico Mori dropping to the bench. Sebastian Negri returns to the side after the flanker missed the last two games through injury, replacing Riccardo Favretto. Prop Simone Ferrari comes in for Giosue Zilocchi in the only other change from last month’s draw against France.

Ross Vintcent, who made his first start in the last game against France, keeps his place at No 8, and Martin Page-Relo is again preferred at scrum-half, with Stephen Varney named on the bench.

Saturday’s game at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome is a sell-out, with 69,869 tickets sold for Italy’s final home game of this year’s Six Nations. Scotland are the team Italy have defeated most in their Six Nations history, but the most recent of those seven wins came in 2015 in Murrayfield, and their last win in Rome over the Scots dates back to 2012.

More to come from Scotland, says Townsend

Gregor Townsend is desperate to see Scotland hit their maximum performance levels over the next two weekends as they bid to secure a first top-two finish in the Six Nations era. Scotland are second in the championship table – a point ahead of England and three above France – as they prepare for matches away to Italy this Saturday and grand slam-chasing Ireland the following week.

Townsend has seen his team defeat Wales and England while going agonisingly close to defeating France, but he still feels they are yet to hit top gear for any sustained period. “Happy-ish,” he said, reflecting on the campaign so far. “You’ve obviously got to be delighted for the team to beat England and retain the Calcutta Cup. But in terms of performance, we’re a little bit away from what we know we can deliver.”

Scotland know that even if they win in Rome on Saturday, it may not be enough to stop Ireland securing the championship against England later in the day. If the Irish slip up at Twickenham, it could pave the way for a last weekend title shootout between Ireland and Scotland in Dublin.

Asked if a second-place finish would represent a good outcome for the Scots, who have never finished higher than third this century, Townsend, said: “I don’t know. Anything to build on what we’ve done in the last few years would be an improvement. We’re focused on the performance and we know that at times it’s been better since the World Cup and last year’s Six Nations but still not where we believe this team can be.”

Townsend has made three changes to his team for the match in the Stadio Olimpico. The regular scrum-half Ben White has been 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 and the experienced Ali Price – who has played no part in the championship so far – is promoted to the bench.

In-form Saracens back-rower Andy Christie replaces Jamie Ritchie, who drops to the bench, while Bath’s Cam Redpath takes the place of influential Glasgow centre Sione Tuipulotu, who is out for the remainder of the tournament with a knee injury.