(Reuters) - Gloucester loose-forward Jake Polledri will make his Italy debut against Scotland at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday as they seek to arrest a run of 16 straight losses in the competition.
Bristol-born Polledri, 22, is the only change to coach Conor O’Shea's starting lineup from the side that lost 38-14 to Wales in their previous fixture.
He will pack down in the back row alongside Sebastian Negri, 23, the Zimbabwe-born flanker who has been one of the stand-out performers for Italy in the competition this year.
Polledri, who qualifies for Italy through his grandmother, replaces the injured Maxime Mbanda as they look to end another difficult campaign with a rare victory.
Number eight Sergio Parisse will again captain the side as he earns his 134th cap and equals former Ireland centre Brian O’Driscoll’s record of 65 Six Nations appearances.
Tommaso Allan continues at flyhalf, with an unchanged back-three of Matteo Minozzi, Tommaso Benvenuti and Mattia Bellini.
Italy’s last success in the Six Nations was against Scotland at Murrayfield in 2015, with seven of their 12 victories in the competition coming against the Scots.
Team:
15-Matteo Minozzi, 14-Tommaso Benvenuti, 13-Giulio Bisegni, 12-Tommaso Castello, 11-Mattia Bellini, 10-Tommaso Allan, 9-Marcello Violi, 8-Sergio Parisse (captain), 7-Jake Polledri, 6-Sebastian Negri, 5-Dean Budd, 4-Alessandro Zanni, 3-Simone Ferrari, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1-Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16-Oliviero Fabiani, 17-Nicola Quaglio, 18-Tiziano Pasquali, 19-Abraham Steyn, 20-Giovanni Licata, 21-Guglielmo Palazzani, 22-Carlo Canna, 23-Jayden Hayward.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Toby Davis)
