Bortolami missing for Scots clash

Scotland v Italy
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St Etienne
Saturday, 29 September
Kick-off: 1900 BST
Live on the BBC Sport website

Alessandro Troncon will replace injured lock Marco Bortolami as Italy's captain Italy for Saturday's crucial World Cup clash against Scotland.

The veteran scrum-half will take the reins after Bortolami failed to recover from hamstring and neck problems.

But second row Santiago Dellape, flanker Josh Sole and number eight Sergio Parisse have shaken off knocks.

Scotland head coach Frank Hadden will name his side for the winner-takes-all clash on Thursday afternoon.

Interview: Scotland captain Jason White

Full-back Hugo Southwell (calf), lock Scott MacLeod (ankle) and utility back Chris Paterson (blurred vision) are all suffering various problems, but they are expected to be available for selection.

In this year's Six Nations Championship, Pierre Berbizier's side won 37-17 at Murrayfield to claim their first ever away victory in the tournament.

On that occasion, the Scots gifted their opponents three soft tries in the opening six minutes.

Scotland skipper Jason White believes his side will prevail if they get their set-pieces right.

"It's the basics in rugby that count," he said.

"Everyone knows the front five have to do well. We need to make sure we win our line-outs and take it from there.

"We're expecting a physical challenge from the Italians. Their scrum is good but I don't think it's quite as good as New Zealand's."

Italy D Bortolussi; K Robertson, G Canale, Mirco Bergamasco, A Masi; R Pez, A Troncon (capt); S Perugini, C Festuccia, M Castrogiovanni, S Dellape, C Del Fava, J Sole, Mauro Bergamasco, S Parisse.
Replacements: F Ongaro, A Lo Cicero, V Bernabo, L Ghiraldini, P Griffen, R de Marigny, E Galon.

Scotland : tbc

Source: BBC Sport