IF the forecasts are to be believed, Scotland are bringing the weather with them to Rome this weekend. If they are to ensure this year’s Six Nations campaign doesn’t end in a damp squib, they would be best advised to keep their wits about them too.

Perhaps that is why Gregor Townsend has opted against excessive experimentation and named a battle-hardened squad for the closing match of this year’s Championship at a venue where Scotland have lost on five of their nine visits since the Italians joined the Championship in 2000. In a starting XV where the average cap count is 36, all but one of his five changes – centre Nick Grigg – has more international experience than the man he is directly replacing. This will be no Roman holiday.

It wasn’t so long ago that the Scots and the Italians seemed to stage annual gladiatorial contests to avoid the wooden spoon; now Scotland arrive in the Eternal City determined to continue their recent supremacy. Victory would move their run of wins in this match-up to an even half dozen, and on the face of it there is little in Italy’s four back-to-back defeats in this year’s tournament which would suggest any other outcome.

Yet for ostensibly such a pressure-free encounter, there is actually no shortage of intrigue here – because defeat to the Italians would fair take the shine off this campaign. Setbacks in Cardiff and Dublin means the Scots are searching for their first away win in this championship since victory this same venue in 2016, not to mention the small matter of equalling last year’s tally of three wins from five. Defeat would make it difficult for everyone around the camp to demonstrate the progress that they feel is coming from the consistent implementation of their cerebral coach’s style of play.

If Townsend himself is no stranger to humbling defeat in Rome, back in February 2000, and Italy’s first ever exposure to the tournament no less – another Six Nations campaign which saw a home win against England – Finn Russell must be Scotland’s lucky charm. The fly half can play unencumbered by our periodic disappointments against this opposition, and perhaps that is why he tends to enjoy the experience so much – even if Scotland are no longer going there with a first Six Nations title up for grabs.

“There is no difficulty raising yourself,” said Russell. “It is an international test week so we want to finish the tournament on a high with three out of five wins. We still want to win this weekend, nothing has changed.

“It is good fun to play against Italy,” he added. “But it is always a tough game. They put teams under a lot of pressure, they score some great tries. Two years ago, it was nice and sunny over there. It is meant to be wet this time. But both teams play an open style of rugby and it is a good fun game to play in.

“The way the team has played against Italy the last couple of times has been great," he added. "We have been really up for the game. So we know have to play at our best to beat them and stick to our structures. We can’t afford to make silly mistakes. They are an international team, a dangerous team in defence and attack. They come out with different strategies to catch you off guard. We need to be ready for anything as well as playing our best to take them on and beat them.”

While Russell has spoken this week of the comfort he has taken from having a second playmaker in close proximity to him in the form of Peter Horne at inside centre, the 5ft 9in New Zealand-born Nick Grigg – more of a human wrecking ball – offers a different skill set.

“Nick is from New Zealand but he is as Scottish as we all are,” says Russell. “I have played with him quite a bit at Glasgow. He is a good player, a very good ball carrier. He is great to have outside me. He is a bit like a pinball. He can bounce off a few boys make yards which is great to have while in defence he is great at the low chop. It helps me having Horney as a 10/12 outside me but in terms of managing the game with Nick coming in he will bring in physicality, ball carrying and tackling. He will be great for us this weekend.”

If there is a conservative, pragmatic element to Townsend’s team selection Russell is adamant that it doesn’t mean any dilution of their determination to play thoughtful attacking rugby – rain or no rain. “We are definitely going to stick with this style of rugby," he says. "We have had a couple of great wins and against Ireland we created a lot of chances that we probably should have finished. The style of play is working, we are scoring some great tries, playing good rugby and we are definitely going to stick with it. We won’t be going into our shells just because we got beaten last week.”

Russell laughs off the tag of ‘nearly men’ although it is a pretty fair summary of where Scotland are at this point in their development, some 18 months off from a World Cup.

“In my first six nations I don’t think we won a game and that was four years ago,” said Russell. “So we are building. That nearly men tag isn’t the kind of name we want to have and we are definitely working to change it. Against Ireland we worked very hard to put the second-best team in the world under a lot of pressure, we put New Zealand under pressure in the Autumn, so it shows that on our day we can be there against the best. England were second in the world when we played them and we managed to beat them. So it shows on our day we can take anyone.”