Scotland v Italy rugby LIVE: score and updates from the Six Nations clash at Murrayfield

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

ARs: Matthew Carley (Eng) & Craig Evans (Wal)

Ben Healy delivers what I believe is his first on-field interpretation of “Flower of Scotland” – the Irish-born fly-half qualifies through his Scottish mother and it will be a very proud day for the entire Healy family.

Typically pleasant from the Murrayfield choir.

Most of the Italian team is hitting their right fists over their hearts. Danilo Fischetti closes his eyes and lifts his chin, singing the notes harmoniously, before opening his eyelids and mouth to roar the final crescendo.

This last Saturday is always a test of endurance – three back-to-back first-class competitions and seven anthems during the day.

The crowd-pleaser of Italy will throw us out.

The players coming out of the tunnel are ready for their final competitive international match before the World Cup in autumn. Back row pillars of solidity Jamie Ritchie and Michele Lamaro lead the lines with faces fixed in focus.

Missing Stuart Hogg was picked up by the BBC today for his fieldside expertise, revealing that the expected recovery from his ankle injury is about four to six weeks. This was the first time Scotland had started a Six Nations match without Finn Russell and Hogg in over a decade – the rest of the Scottish back row performed very well during this tournament, but it’s a significant test.

Meanwhile, Sione Tuipulotu was rewarded for his excellent tournament as vice-captain. I’m looking forward to him and Huw Jones fighting Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex.

“I’d like to think so,” the Italy head coach chuckles when asked if his team could replicate last year’s last-day feats. “It’s a different tournament and a different team. We weren’t good enough in our performance last week. This week we focused on that.

“We have embraced the notion that we have to be a little better each week. I hope that the more you enter those positions and the more successful you are in those positions, the better you will be. We haven’t experienced that yet.”

“Today’s performance has it all. This is our last game in the Six Nations and we’ve worked hard for this championship to get our best performance yet. That is the aim today.

“We are very careful. They were about to beat Ireland and France, they moved the ball from anywhere. They have nothing to lose. They went to Cardiff at this stage last year and played a great game and won that match. We have to make sure we impose our game on Italy.”

Back-to-back defeats by second-placed France and top-ranked Ireland mean that Scotland can no longer claim silver from a tournament that started with victories. England and Wales.

But Ritchie thinks making it into Saturday’s campaign finale at BT Murrayfield is still in jeopardy, as Gregor Townsend’s side bid three-of-five wins and a third-place finish for the first time since 2018.

“I’ve set five good performance goals and I think we’re at half past three now,” the captain said. “It would be good to get it to four-and-a-half, so we’re looking for a strong performance. It would be positive to secure third place for sure.

If you were asked to pick the two most quietly impressive players of these Six Nations, then today’s looseheads would probably come to your mind right away. Both Pierre Schoeman and Danilo Fischetti stood out both loosely and firmly throughout this tournament, continuing to build on their burgeoning international reputations.

These are different kinds of accessories, Schoeman’s shoulders wider than Fischetti’s, but each packs plenty of punch in carry and presents a lively threat of breakdown. Quietly, the number one jersey has been filled by many high-quality players in this championship – Cyril Baille has been back to near the best in the past few weeks, Ellis Genge has taken the lead in England’s best moments, and Andrew Porter is a touchstone amid Ireland’s front row chaos became the stone.