Gesi gets debut in rejigged Italy team to face Scotland

Italy have handed winger Simone Gesi his test debut and dropped veteran Edoardo Padovani as coach Kieran Crowley made several changes for Satruday's Six Nations game away to Scotland.

Italy lost 29-17 to Wales last weekend and Crowley said they did not execute their gameplan well enough.

Scrumhalf Alessandro Fusco replaces Stephen Varney, while Marco Riccioni replaces Simone Ferrari at tighthead prop.

Italy are the bottom of the table with one point after four matches and need a win against Scotland at Murrayfield in their final game of the 2023 championship to salvage some pride.

While Italy have more victories against Scotland than they have against any other Six Nations team, the "Azzurri" have not beaten them in their last 11 attempts.

Italy will be hoping to repeat their performance from last year when they beat Wales 22-21 to secure a first ever win in Cardiff and end their 36-game losing streak in the Six Nations in their last match of the tournament.

Scotland team

15-Tommaso Allan, 14-Pierre Bruno, 13-Juan Ignacio Brex, 12-Tommaso Menoncello, 11-Simone Gesi, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Alessandro Fusco, 8-Lorenzo Cannone, 7-Michele Lamaro (c), 6-Sebastian Negri, 5-Federico Ruzza, 4-Edoardo Iachizzi, 3-Marco Riccioni, 2-Giacomo Nicotera, 1-Danilo Fischetti

Replacements: 16-Marco Manfredi, 17-Federico Zani, 18-Pietro Ceccarelli, 19-Niccolo Cannone, 20-Giovanni Pettinelli, 21-Manuel Zuliani, 22-Alessandro Garbisi, 23-Luca Morisi