Polledri to make Italy debut as Parisse equals O’Driscoll record

Sergio Parisse will equal Brian O’Driscoll’s appearance record for the Five and Six Nations when he leads out Italy against Scotland in Rome on Saturday.

The inspirational number eight is set for his 65th outing in the championship, drawing him level with Ireland’s iconic former centre.

Head coach Conor O’Shea has made only one change to his starting XV from the side that went down 38-14 in Wales last weekend, with Gloucester flanker Jake Polledri set for his international debut. The injured Maxime Mbanda is the man to make way.

The Azzurri have endured another disappointing campaign and are already destined to take home the wooden spoon after four defeats from four and not so much as a losing bonus point to their name heading into the final fixture.

 #Italrugby, sabato all’Olimpico debutta @JakePolledri

Un solo cambio nel XV di O’Shea per #ITAvSCO che chiude il #6Nazioni 2018 pic.twitter.com/VsIyZy9O7M

— Italrugby (@Federugby) March 15, 2018

Italy team: Matteo Minozzi, Tommaso Benvenuti, Giulio Bisegni, Tommaso Castello, Mattia Bellini, Tommaso Allan, Marcello Violi; Andrea Lovotti, Leonardo Ghiraldini, Simone Ferrari, Alessandro Zanni, Dean Budd, Sebastian Negri, Jake Polledri, Sergio Parisse (c).

Substitutes: Oliviero Fabiani, Nicola Quaglio, Tiziano Pasquali, Abraham Steyn, Giovanni Licata, Guglielmo Palazzani, Carlo Canna, Jayden Hayward.

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