Captain Michele Lamaro believes Italy have changed perceptions and are now taken more seriously by other teams in the Six Nations.
While they have finished fifth in the past two years, Italy won twice in 2024 – only the third time they have racked up two wins in the competition.
Advertisement
Scotland begin their 2026 Six Nations campaign against the Azzurri in Rome on Saturday.
“I think what has changed in the last couple of years is the perception of our team,” Lamaro said.
“Teams are not scared of what we can do, but scared of what we might do if we are put in the position to do that.
“We’ve shown some really good rugby in the last couple of years and we can see how the teams are starting to prepare for us.
“We have the confidence that if we do everything in the proper way, if we put ourselves in the best situation possible, we know we can put Scotland under massive pressure, even from a scoreboard perspective.”
Advertisement
While Scotland still have a dominant record against Italy, they lost on their previous visit to Rome – a 31-29 defeat two years ago – and winning margins have also reduced.
“We’ve been speaking all week about doing what we can control to get to those last 15-20 minutes in contention, and then heart will do the rest,” Lamaro said.
“We want to get the crowd going and share that dream with them, make them feel part of it. That’s what we need and what they need too.”
Advertisement
After taking the wooden spoon in 18 of their 25 years in the Six Nations – and winning no games on 13 occasions – some considered games against Italy as foregone conclusions. Lamaro is convinced that is no longer the case.
“We’ve been through some really tough moments in the past, so to be able to get that dream going again, it’s a really massive thing for us,” he said.
“And now seeing that tomorrow we’ll have 70,000 people at the Stadio Olimpico, it’s something that makes us unbelievably proud, and it gives us a lot of confidence that we’re going in the right direction.”
