Scotland focused on scrum showdown

Scotland prop Allan Jacobsen wants to deliver the ultimate “insult” to Italy this weekend by helping destroy their front row in Rome.

Edinburgh loosehead Jacobsen, who has been recalled for Saturday’s crunch RBS 6 Nations match, believes getting on top of the Azzurri in the scrum is the key to victory at the Stadio Flaminio.

He said: “It’s a massive part of their game, it always has been a massive part of their game, the scrum.

“They’ve got massive pride in it. They see it as a bit of an insult if they don’t do so well, they don’t feel good about themselves.

“That’s something we’re really focused on.”

Should Scotland dominate up front, Jacobsen reckons it could have a demoralising effect on the rest of the Italy team.

He added: “From the games I’ve played against them over the years, the games we’ve won are the games we’ve done well up front in, particularly in the scrum.

“And vice-versa. The games where we’ve struggled at the breakdown and in the scrum and the mauls, those are the games where they’ve come out on top.”

Jacobsen’s recall reunites the front row which earned rave reviews during the 2008 autumn internationals.

He, Ross Ford and Euan Murray have only played together once since, coincidentally in a comfortable win over Italy during last year’s Six Nations.

That game saw Jacobsen suffer a shoulder injury which ended his hopes of joining Ford and Murray on last summer’s British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa.

He is looking forward to being reunited with his front-row colleagues but warned their previous performances together would mean nothing on Saturday.

“We’ve played well together in the past, but that is in the past,” he said. “We’ve got a big task at the weekend against a really good scrum.

“We know we can scrum well together and we need to go out and do that. That’ll be a massive part of the game at the weekend.”

Jacobsen started Andy Robinson’s first three games in charge of Scotland in the autumn but despite helping his country to two victories, found himself relegated to the bench in favour of the fit-again Alasdair Dickinson for the Six Nations opener against France.

“I don’t know if I was surprised,” said the man nicknamed ’Chunk’, who will earn his 43rd cap this weekend. “Robbo (Robinson) had a word with me, told me what was happening.

“I agreed with a lot of what he said but I’ve just been trying to work hard the last few weeks and try to make an impact when I was coming off the bench.

“He’s given me my chance this week so I need to go out and show what I can do.”

Dickinson’s performance in the scrum came under scrutiny after the defeats to France and Wales.

Jacobsen said: “Some people seem to take the blame for stuff like that. But I know myself from a scrummaging point of view, it’s an eight-man thing, it’s a team thing.

“Sometimes it’s harsh but that’s just the way the game is.”

Jacobsen, who came off the bench in both matches, insists spirits are high in the rest of the camp after Scotland produced one of their best performances in recent memory against Wales 10 days ago, before suffering a cruel last-gasp defeat.

“There was some great stuff and it should give the boys confidence about the way we can play,” he said.

“Some of the stuff was outstanding but we still made some silly mistakes and those are the things that we need to cut out if we’re going to be serious about winning a few games in this championship.”