Scotland seek Six Nations redemption in Italy World Cup warm-up

“The Irish game was an open, fairly fluid affair for the most part,” said Cotter. “But I think the Italy game will be a tighter battle, so we’ll be looking, perhaps, to play a bit differently.”

And that different approach means there are senior Scotland debuts for three players; John Hardie (open side back row), Glasgow Warriors wing Rory Hughes and Stuart McInally (hooker), who makes his bow after three years on the cusp of being capped.

Joining Gilchrist in keeping their starting spots are veteran Sean Lamont, the versatile Greig Tonks and Richie Vernon – an impressive performer against Ireland.

Hughes is 15/8 to cap his bow with a try anytime and so is seasoned international Lamont, who has crossed against Italy twice before. Matt Scott is also in that category, and better value at 12/5 in that market.

For Italy, Giovanbattista Venditti is their best scoring shout at 9/4 and his Zebre teammate Leonardo Sarto has similarly been a scourge of the Scots before. This is reflected in better odds of 11/4.

Coral’s top tip: To enhance Scotland’s status as odds-on match favourites, take a nifty 9/2 on their margin of victory being 1-5 points.

Italy XV: Andrea Masi, Leonardo Sarto, Tommaso Benvenuti, Gonzalo Garcia, Giovanbattista Venditti, Tommaso Allan, Guglielmo Palazzani, Matias Aguero, Davide Giazzon, Lorenzo Cittadini, Quintin Geldenhuys (c), Valerio Bernabo, Francesco Minto, Alessandro Zanni, Samuela Vunisa

Replacements: Leonardo Ghiraldini, Michele Rizzo, Martin Castrogiovanni, Marco Bortolami, Mauro Bergamasco, Marcello Violi, Carlo Canna, Luke McLean

Scotland XV: Greig Tonks, Sean Lamont, Richie Vernon, Matt Scott, Rory Hughes, Duncan Weir, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Gordon Reid, Stuart McInally, Mike Cusack, Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist (c), Alasdair Strokosch, John Hardie, Adam Ashe

Replacements: Ross Ford, Alasdair Dickinson, Willem Nel, Jim Hamilton, Hamish Watson, Henry Pyrgos, Peter Horne, Damien Hoyland