Italy v Scotland: Teams

Scotland coach Frank Hadden is hoping his side can sign off this season's RBS Six Nations with a winning display in Rome.

Saturday's 15-9 win against England at Murrayfield means Scotland should avoid the wooden spoon, however they still need to see off the Italians to make sure.

But having been pushed all the way by the Azzurri in the World Cup, Hadden knows he cannot afford to take anything for granted.

"We're aware it's going to be an extremely tough challenge this Saturday," said Hadden.

"But we played pretty well last weekend and it's absolutely vital we carry on in the same vein this week.

"I'm confident with the quality of our squad, I'm confident with the depth of players that we've got available to us, and I'm confident we'll do a job on Saturday."

Passion

Hadden is without Nikki Walker, Rory Lamont and Ross Ford for the trip, although Simon Danielli and Fergus Thompson come in.

Walker was ruled out on Thursday, prompting Hadden to bring in Dan Parks at stand-off, having originally selected Chris Paterson.

Paterson switches to the left wing to take Walker's place and Andrew Henderson is promoted to the bench.

Former Italy skipper Marco Bortolami believes passion and desire will be key to his side's hopes of beating Scotland.

The Six Nations table does not tell the true story of Italy's campaign, with Nick Mallett's men pushing England, Ireland and France close.

And Gloucester lock Bortolami wants the fans at the Stadio Flaminio to roar them to success.

"The team that wants it more will win," said Bortolami.

"This is our last chance to get a reward for all of our hard work. But I insist we need to hear our fans just as we did in Paris.

"I want them to sing, to shout, to make noise always because they are our main strength when playing at home. They help us up when we are down and when we are tired."

Mallett has named an unchanged side for the clash.

Italy: A Marcato (Benetton Treviso), K Robertson (Montepaschi Viadana), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), E Galon (Overmach Cariparma), A Masi (Biarritz Olympique), S Picone (Benetton Treviso); A Lo Cicero (Racing Metro Paris), L Ghiraldini (Cammi Calvisano), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), CA Del Fava (Ulster), M Bortolami (Gloucester), J Sole (Arix Viadana), A Zanni (Cammi Calvisano), S Parisse (Stade Francais).
Replacements: F Ongaro (Saracens), C Nieto (Gloucester), S Perugini (Stade Toulouse), J Erasmus (Montepaschi Viadana), P Travagli (Overmach Cariparma), E Patrizio (Petrarca Padova), A Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso).

Scotland: H Southwell (Edinburgh), S Danielli (Ulster), S Webster (Edinburgh), G Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), C Paterson (Gloucester), D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), F Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), E Murray (Northampton), N Hines (Perpignan), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), A Strokosch (Gloucester), S Taylor (Stade Francais), A Hogg (Edinburgh).
Replacements: S Lawson (Sale), A Dickinson (Gloucester), C Smith (Edinburgh), J White (Sale), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors), R Lawson (Gloucester), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors).