Scotland vs Italy Predictions & Tips - Scotland to thrash Italy at Murrayfield

Scotland are out of the running for the title but will want to finish on a high. Every team bar England have beaten Italy by more than 27 points in the 2021 Six Nations. My best bet is for Scotland to cover the -27 point handicap.

Scotland have won their last nine matches against Italy. They met twice in 2020 with Scotland winning 17-0 during the 2020 Six Nations and 28-17 in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup. Both matches were played in Italy.

Scotland have been good during the 2021 Six Nations but they have not had much luck. Going into the final scheduled match, they have only managed one victory from their opening three matches.

Scotland’s week three fixture against France was postponed and no date has been set for the match as yet. The Scots are however out of contention for the title but will want to end on a high.

After a historical 11-6 away win over England on the opening weekend, Scotland lost 25-24 at home to Wales. That was despite dominating the match until they had to play with 14 men after a red card was issued.

This past weekend, Scotland lost 27-24 at home to Ireland. It was another match that the Scots will believe they should have won.

Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend has made six changes to his starting lineup to face Italy.

Flyhalf, Finn Russell has not had enough time to recover from concussion protocols so Stuart Hogg will start in the number 10 jersey.

A new-look front-row will also appear with David Cherry, Rory Sutherland and Zander Fagerson all getting the nod to start.

Sean Maitland shifts to fullback with Hogg starting at flyhalf.

Italy have been uninspiring in the 2021 Six Nations. This has perhaps been their worst season over the last five years.

Italy are perennial bottom feeders in the Six Nations but the losing margins have been huge this season. They lost 50-10 to France, 41-18 to England, 48-10 to Ireland and 48-7 to Wales in their last match.

Going into this fixture, Italy coach, Franco Smith will hope to put in some sort of performance. It is however difficult to see them turn around the recent run of results.

Franco Smith looks set to stick with a similar team to the one that started last weekend. They are building a young squad, and while it is coming at the cost of some poor results, they will stick with it for the last match.