Horne gets the nod for Rome as White told to ‘recharge’

Gregor Townsend has backed George Horne to bring the best out of Scotland against Italy tomorrow after giving Ben White the week off “to recharge”.

Horne’s selection at scrumhalf is the most eye-catching of three changes made by Townsend to his starting XV for the match in Rome as the Scots attempt to keep alive their slim Six Nations title hopes. The Glasgow Warriors half-back will win his 29th cap this weekend but has started only three times previously for Scotland, the last occasion being the 2019 World Cup match against Russia in Japan. Horne scored a hat-trick that day, a good omen perhaps for tomorrow.

Townsend believes he has earned his chance due to his outstanding form for Glasgow over the last couple of campaigns. He was the club’s player of the season last year as he edged out Ali Price to become firstchoice scrum-half. Price, who has since moved to Edinburgh, will be on the bench against Italy as White is rested.

Horne, 28, now has the opportunity to influence a game from the start after substitute appearances in the wins over Wales and England last month.

“George has performed a role for us off the bench really well – he brings energy and skill and he's very competitive – but he's been a starter for Glasgow for the last two seasons so we're very confident he can deliver a performance that brings out the best in him and others,” said the Scotland coach. “And also having Ali, who is playing more rugby than ever at Edinburgh, on the bench shows we can change our game and bring on experience in the second half.”

Townsend expressed concern about the amount of rugby played by White recently and takes the opportunity to give the Toulon No 9 the week off. Unlike other members of the squad, White has been playing for his club in France on the free weekends during the Six Nations and has not had a week off since October.

“We feel he needs a week to recharge,” said the coach. “He’s still working – he did a session on Wednesday – but the focus for him is recovery. He’s had a couple of injuries too. He was doubtful for the Wales game with a shoulder that he injured on the Sunday night playing for Toulon. There are a lot of challenges for players that are playing [for their clubs] during the Six Nations. “The way he trains too – he puts everything into it, like all our nines. We would have had a decision to make – it was ‘OK Ben, we feel you need to have a recharge week’, but we also need the team to train together. We don’t have a lot of training sessions. So that was the decision we made.

“And the confidence that we have in the other two – the other two have played for us over the last five years. Ali has been a starter for us and for the Lions, George has been excellent off the bench but gets this opportunity to start. So we’d hope next week that all three