Scotland v Italy:Scotland have tripped up twice against the Azzurri in the Six Nations and would have liked to be totally focused on avoiding another Italian banana skin this week rather than worry about more long-term issues like the one presented by Rob Dewey yesterday. The Edinburgh centre and one of the finds of the tournament announced he is joining Ulster next season, widening existing cracks in Frank Hadden's "Fortress Scotland" policy.

The 23-year-old, who scored in his first two internationals, is following the Borders wing Simon Danielli, who has also signed a two-year deal with Ulster. With the hooker Scott Lawson believed to be on the move from Glasgow, to Sale, and several younger players thinking of heading south, the foundations are starting to shift under Scotland's head coach.

Gloucester tried to sign the Scotland and Borders scrumhalf Chris Cusiter before they agreed terms with Cusiter's understudy tomorrow, Rory Lawson, and are believed to be ready to make another Scottish signing.

All of which will come as unsettling news to Hadden as he prepares to meet one of the sides his team will have to beat in the autumn to have any realistic chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

This week Hadden and his team have gone out of their way to lower expectations of an easy win, particularly pointing to the strength of the Italian pack.

First out of the blocks was Hadden himself, announcing he was slipping nearly 19 stone of Nathan Hines into his second row to cope with the threat.

The captain, Chris Paterson, chipped in a day later, followed by the veteran backrow Simon Taylor and the hooker Dougie Hall on Thursday before Hadden rounded off the week yesterday by warning Italy were on the verge of doing "something special", presumably win an away game, in the Six Nations.

If Italy are to go one better than their draw in Cardiff last spring, their pack need more help than they got against France or England, with the onus on their kicker, the 33-year-old Andrea Scanavacca, whose Six Nations return has not been uplifting.

Scanavacca has to reward his pack's efforts as Paterson will for Scotland. The captain's kicking in the final minutes robbed Italy last time and he finished the tournament with a success rate close to 90 per cent.

Guardian Service