The 2025 Six Nations is here! The action kicks off in Paris on Friday, but Scotland and Italy get their campaigns underway less than 24 hours later at Murrayfield.
Scotland enter this year’s championship with a talented core capable of lofty ambitions, but will a recent glut of injuries derail their plans? Their first game comes against an Italy side that beat them in this clash last March.
Here is everything you need to know about Saturday’s clash.
Key details:
When: Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2.15 p.m. UK
Where: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
How to watch: You can wach live on the BBC (UK). You can also follow along with live updates on ESPN.
Officials: Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (Eng) & Damian Schneider (Arg)
Television Match Official: Marius Jonker (SA)
Lineups:
Scotland: To be announced
Replacements: N/A
Italy: To be announced
Replacements: N/A
Team news:
Scotland: Gregor Townsend’s side are dealing with mounting injuries. Scotland added five further faces to the squad on Monday, including PROD2 player Alexander Masibaka. It comes after Sione Tuipulotu, Dylan Richardson, Scott Cummings and Josh Bayliss have all been ruled out.
Townsend had already been made to find replecements for Kyle Steyn, Adam Hastings, Max Williamson, Andy Onyeama-Christie and Ben Muncaster in his original squad.
However, Scotland were handed a boost on Wednesday with record try scorer Duhan van der Merwe resuming full training following a sprained ankle.
Italy: Italy are aiming to further improve their Six Nations performance as they begin a campaign marking the 25th anniversary of their first participation.
Azzurri head coach Gonzalo Quesada named 30 players for the tournament, including recalling Stephen Varney and Tommaso Allan.
Welsh-born scrumhalf Varney had been dropped for the November internationals, where they narrowly beat Georgia but lost to both Argentina and New Zealand, but has won a recall after his move from Gloucester to French side Vannes.
Allan, whose 81 caps make him the most experienced player in the squad, is also back after he had withdrawn from selection after the first game of last year’s Six Nations against England, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
Information from Reuters contributed to the team news of this report.
