Letting mallet go (when he wanted to stay) was a stupid move by the italians.

Moving Stadium was another stupid move and is motivated by cash, tho i cant fault that motivation i dont have to like it.

I loved Stadio Flaminio and was there several times following Ireland. Its Intimate and fantastic in every way. Even in the back row ur in a better position then most of the larger stadia in the competition.

SARS ur sumation of italy is probably bang on but i think u do Scotland an injustice. Perhaps they will surprise us? Tho last year they were suppose to surprise us as well and that din't come to pass in the end.

Expect more from the Scots this year. They seem to be putting together a very competitive match day 22. Italy will get thumped this year.

mmm Max its very possible but is it likely?

The thing is, they were being touted as dark horses last year and it came to nothing. Thats about the 3rd false down they have had in recent years. I suppose we can look at some of their results and say they came very close but then we can say that about scotland any and every year. But close is just losing by less.

Their problem is they have no bench. They dont have any real game breakers, tho they are very well drilled and super organised in defence. The back line is bereft of cutting edge and cant score tries so with all the turn overs they win, they never seem to turn it into anything meaningful on the scoreboard.

Look at france and wales and watch as they turn u over they have runners coming on to quick ball and broken field defence and before u know it your 7 points down.

Scotland are short on that vital part. Cutting edge.
And organised defences will only get you so far.

Its not that they are bad, but just that they are not quite good enough. and while they get better each year, so do the other teams so it usually leaves them in the same position.

Mentally having a team make it through to the HC quarters will be important for the Scotts. Predict them to beat Itlay and one of the other teams this year. When Tim Visser is eligible for them it'll help.

"When Tim Visser is eligible for them it'll help"
+1

Anyone give me odds on an italian win in the first game against france?

i think its a 50/50
What France team will turn up? and what mental state will they be in?

Forza Italia!!!!!

Hold the presses i just read this! My clairvoyance is astounding!

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Saint-Andre called on his country's professional teams and rugby federation to do more to help him conquer the inconsistency that has dogged Les Bleus throughout their entire history.

The former Sale head coach only met his 30-man provisional RBS 6 Nations squad for the first time on Sunday, but must now release them back to their clubs for matches this weekend.

"It's tough," Saint-Andre said ahead of next weekend's tournament opener against Italy.

"We are the only country who have the league Friday and Saturday.

"I will announce the squad of 23 tomorrow, but I will cross my fingers that the guys will be okay after the games this weekend.

"We know the other countries have much more time to prepare."
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Playing under Saint-Andre the French will be so motivated and hit the ground running! They will comfortably see off Italy!

Well to be fair under Saint-Andre you would expect them to be great...

BUT its france... and they are just a little bit nutty

With Scotland, whilst they are improving I think they have some very serious issues to address, squad depth has been mentioned but when did they last score a try against decent (Six nations, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) opposition?

That suggests either a serious lack of creativity or something in their heads that is not good. Paterson has retired and Kelly Brown is out so I think, despite Edinburgh's strong showing, there are a lot of problems with Scottish rugby at present

I could be totally wrong of course

They did manage to beat the Boks last November though...they will not be 6N winners or even runners up but could pull off a few surprises.

They beat the boks but really its was a bad boks side. be honest

But still that Bok side, or part of it, beat Ireland, Wales and thumped England!

I was at Twickenham that day and it was so so sweet! After a week of England building themselves up and predicting a +15 point victory after their victories over AUS and Samoa they were brought crashing (literally) back to ground with a serious thump!

Thats true Max, I guess the question would be was that a one off (and if so was it Scotland were brilliant or South Africa were awful)

if it wasn't then why hasn't it happened again - the players have been the same, so why not the performances.

It's not a conclusion I'm comfortable with, but the facts do seem to support it, but I wonder if, simply put (and I do apologise to anyone this offends) "Scotland are not that good at rugby".

Let me explain, they had a golden era in the late 80s which everyone now takes as being the acceptable average, rather than a statistical anomaly. Scotland won 2 of their 3 grand slams in that period, outside of which they only won in 1925.

Their world ranking over the last 10 years averages around 10, and goes between 6 and 12, so on average over the last decade, which is more typical of their historic average, they are akin to Samoa and Tonga rather than England and Ireland.

Only 3 of their 11 coaches have been more successful than Andy Robinson (based on win percentage) and two of those by only 2%.

Its not pleasant reading if you're a Scotland fan, but it does indicate what the historic trend really is, and that is battling with Italy at the bottom is their general pattern.

Again, please feel free to correct and I do apologies for any offence caused.