Ford confident of beating Italy

Hooker Ross Ford is confident Scotland’s front five will stand up to scrutiny in Saturday’s make-or-break World Cup Pool C clash against Italy.

The Azzurri are renowned for having a fearsome scrummaging unit and they will look to gain an edge in that department in the qualification eliminator in St Etienne this weekend.

The team’s performances as a whole this tournament have been poor – the Italians stuttered past minnows Romania and Portugal after being on the wrong end of a thrashing by New Zealand – but the scrum has looked as solid as ever.

Ford is sure the Scots can gain parity in that area, and set the foundations for a win that should seal a probable quarter-final match against Argentina.

“I don’t think they have got into a rhythm yet but I don’t think there have been problems in their front five,” said the Glasgow Warriors star.

“They have got a class pack. So it’s up to the Scotland front five to match them and give it back.

“We are starting to develop as a unit and we are progressing.

“In the warm-up games, Ireland was a big test, as was South Africa. We have learned a few lessons there and we will take those into Saturday and try to impose ourselves.

“It is the best part of their game and we are going to have to combat that with our own scrummaging and make sure we don’t give them an easy time.

“If we can match them here and get enough possession, I am sure the backs will do their thing.”

Italy shocked the Scots by grabbing a 37-17 win at Murrayfield in the RBS 6 Nations Championship earlier this year, the Azzurri’s first away victory in the tournament.

Frank Hadden’s men gifted their opponents three tries in the opening six minutes, and could not recover.

Ford, a substitute in that game, is not reading too much into it, saying: “It was 21 points we gave away and it’s hard to come back from that in any international game.

“We have all put that to the back of our minds, and we are concentrating on the here and now.”

Backs coach Alan Tait added: “It was just one of those games. We gave them too big a start and we know we can’t afford to do that.

“We have talked about how we need to start the game fully focused.

“They caught us with a few clever things that caught us out that day, but hopefully we will be prepared this time.”

Hadden should have a fully-fit squad of 30 to choose from for this weekend’s showdown.

Full-back Hugo Southwell (calf), lock Scott MacLeod (ankle) and utility back Chris Paterson (blurred vision) are all suffering various problems, but they are expected to be available for selection.

Hadden will name his team tomorrow afternoon.