Scotland play host to Italy at Murrayfield this weekend looking to reassert their dominance in what has become a keenly-contested fixture.
The two sides meet for the 17th time with the Azzurri having had the better of their most recent encounters with victories in 2007, 2008 and 2010. However, the Scots did prevent a hat-trick of defeats with a 26-6victory in their last Murrayfield clash in 2009 and they can also boast a Rugby World Cup pool match victory at Saint Etienne in 2007.
Scotland claimed a 29-22 victory in their first official Test clash in 1996 in a major Test and lead the overall stats with 10 victories to the Italians 6 although that advantage is reduced to just one game in the history of the Championship.
Scotland hold the record for the highest score, the biggest winning margin and highest try-return of the series. They won 47-15 and scored six tries at Murrayfield when the sides met in a World Cup warm-up match in August 2003. Italy's best result is their 37-17 Six Nations win at Murrayfield in 2007, when they scored four tries.
Diego Dominguez, with 29 points for Italy in Rome in 2000, holds the series record for most points scored in a match. Brendan Laney scored 24 for Scotland, also in Rome, in 2002.
Kenny Logan set the record for most tries in a match, scoring two for Scotland when the sides first met, at Murrayfield, in 1996. Luca Martin crossed twice for Italy there in 1999.
Logan also heads the list of try scorers for the overall series, crossing four times in six appearances between 1996 and 2003. Five Italians, including the Bergamasco brothers, have scored two tries in the matches.
The other major records for the fixture include Chris Paterson's overall tally of 107 points from 11 appearances (compared with 94 for Italy by Diego Dominguez), and Scott Murray's 11 appearances (1998 to 2007) in the series. Paterson and Simon Taylor have also played 11 times.
Alessandro Troncon and Andrea Lo Cicero each played 10 times for Italy. The only player dismissed during a Scotland-Italy match was Massimo Giovanelli at Murrayfield in 1999.
Scotland-Italy Six Nations results:
2000 Italy 34-20 (Rome)
2001 Scotland 23-19 (Murrayfield)
2002 Scotland 29-12 (Rome)
2003 Scotland 33-25 (Murrayfield)
2004 Italy 20-14 (Rome)
2005 Scotland 18-10 (Murrayfield)
2006 Scotland 13-10 (Rome)
2007 Italy 37-17 (Murrayfield)
2008 Italy 23-20 (Rome)
2009 Scotland 26-6 (Murrayfield)
2010 Italy 16-12 Scotland (Rome)
