Sebastian Negri: What Italy 'can’t shy away from' this Six Nations

Sebastian Negri has challenged Italy to endorse the notion they are a team on the march by delivering more big results in this year’s Guinness Six Nations.

Scotland captain Finn Russell said on Friday, ahead of the Murrayfield showdown between the two teams, that this is the best Azzurri side he will have faced.

Italy won two of their five games in the championship last year – against Scotland and Wales – and they are intent on taking more scalps this year.

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“I feel like we’re in a really good cycle at the moment,” said back-rower Negri. “Obviously, we’ve been through ups and downs as a team, but I feel like this is a really good Italian team to be a part of.

“We’ve got to embrace that, we can’t shy away from that. It’s a different challenge for us now. With the cycle and where we are as a team, we’ve got to put in some performances and get some results. That’s an exciting thing to be a part of.”

Fixture

Six Nations

Scotland

31 - 19

Full-time

Italy

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Negri played in his side’s stirring 31-29 victory over Scotland in Rome last March and the forward is braced for a formidable challenge against a team gunning for revenge in Edinburgh.

“There’s been a lot of rugby played after that, and we know Scotland will be hurting from that,” said Negri. “We know they’ve talked about putting things right and a bit of revenge, I guess, so we’ve got to expect that.

“It’s always hard and tough playing here. We’re under no illusions. We’ve got to put in a really good performance to have any chance of getting a result here.

“I looked at Scotland’s team yesterday, I just see a really quality team there, full of depth. People say that maybe Italy are in one of their better cycles, that we’re a really good team; I look at Scotland and I can say exactly the same of them.”