Six Nations, Scotland v Italy: The biting winds in Edinburgh yesterday may not have been to the taste of Scotland's Italian visitors but the snows that have kept locals indoors this week are not expected to afflict Murrayfield this afternoon.
It is whitewashes rather than whiteouts which are worrying both these teams.
Scotland and Italy have drawn a blank in their opening matches of the Six Nations. So have England, but this is the game that will surely settle the destination of this season's wooden spoon. And, whereas Italy's ambitions may be modest, Scotland cannot afford a second successive whitewash under their Australian coach Matt Williams.
During the past 12 months the grey hair of the 44-year-old Sydneysider might have turned white, so colourless have Scotland been. And there was a distinct chill factor after his seventh successive Six Nations defeat, the 40-13 reverse against Ireland a fortnight ago. The first hints that Williams, for all his amiability, was destined for the Berti Vogts treatment came after the match when he was asked if he should walk away from the job.
The coach's reply was defiant - "I'm in for the long haul; I've come here for four years" - but the reality is that an imported coach, such as Vogts or Williams, will always raise expectations and be judged in a harsher light than the likes of Jim Telfer or Ian McGeechan. To say that a Scottish win today is vital would be no overstatement.
Scotland are not short of good players and if a Lions Test team were picked this weekend there would be grounds for picking three of this season's team, Tom Smith, Chris Cusiter and Jason White. White was outstanding in the back row against France and Ireland but his knee injury rules him out today.
Williams has been forced to throw Simon Taylor into the breach less than a year after the Edinburgh number eight damaged knee ligaments against the Irish, but a fit Taylor will not harm the Scottish cause despite the fact that the Scots now have three natural number eights in their back row.
The Italians bring David Dal Maso into their back row in place of their most talented player, Mauro Bergamasco, whose wonderful try here four years ago took the Italians within five points of what would have been their first Six Nations win outside Rome. Guardian Service
