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All the details on broadcasters and streams for today’s first Six Nations game
Watch Scotland v Italy as the two sides kick off today’s 2025 Six Nations action at Murrayfield. If you’re looking for details of TV broadcasts and live streams, this guide has got you covered.
Scotland go into their opening championship game as favourites, but their increasingly talismanic captain Sione Tuipulotu is missing with injury. Also, Italy beat Gregor Townsend’s men in Rome last year, and are more than capable of causing an upset at Murrayfield.
Scotland v Italy kicks off at 2.15pm GMT today on a chilly but dry afternoon in Edinburgh, and is available to watch for free in many countries, including the UK, Ireland and France. Below we explain how to watch Scotland v Italy online, on TV and from anywhere in the world.
Key information
– Scotland v Italy date: Saturday 1 February 2025
– Scotland v Italy kick-off time: 2.15pm local (GMT) / 3.15pm CET / 9.15am ET / 4.15pm SAST / 1.15am AEDT (Sunday)
– Scotland v Italy venue: Scottish Gas Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Scotland
– Scotland v Italy on TV: BBC One, RTÉ 2, France 2
– Scotland v Italy streams: BBC iPlayer (free), RTÉ Player (free), FranceTV (free)
– Watch from anywhere: Try NordVPN 100% risk-free
How to watch Scotland v Italy in the UK – Six Nations free live stream
Fans in the UK can watch Scotland v Italy in the 2025 Six Nations on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Six Nations TV coverage is being shared between the BBC and ITV, with the BBC taking all of Scotland’s home games. Scotland v Italy will be shown free-to-air on terrestrial channel BBC One, and online on the BBC iPlayer streaming platform. BBC iPlayer is free to use with a simple email registration, but you need to have a valid TV Licence to watch live BBC TV online.
Coverage starts at 1.15pm GMT ahead of the 2.15pm GMT kick-off.
How to watch Scotland v Italy from abroad
What if you’re travelling abroad when Scotland v Italy is on? You might think geo-restrictions on streaming services might stop you from watching the game, but you’d be wrong. A neat solution is a VPN, a piece of software that can make your device appear to be in any country in the world.
Virtual Private Networks – to use the full name – enhance your internet security by creating encrypted connections and this is great for watching sport on the move as you can choose a connection in your home country and hey presto, your usual streaming services are unblocked.
Our office mates at TechRadar are complete experts in all things VPN, and they rate NordVPN as the best on the market – handily it comes at a knockdown price in time for the Six Nations.
How to watch Scotland v Italy in Ireland
As in the UK, rugby fans in Ireland can watch Scotland v Italy for free, along with every other game of the tournament.
With the rights split between RTÉ and Virgin Media, this one goes out on RTÉ 2. RTÉ 2 is available on free terrestrial television in Ireland. You can also stream Scotland v Italy online with RTÉ Player, which is available as a streaming app or simply an in-browser player with no sign-up required.
Coverage starts at 1.30pm GMT ahead of the 2.15pm GMT kick-off.
How to watch Scotland v Italy in France
In France, all Six Nations games are free to watch with public broadcaster France Télévisions, including Scotland v Italy on Saturday 1 February. The game will go out live on terrestrial channel France 2, with a Scotland v Italy live stream available on the FranceTV streaming platform, which is also free to view.
Coverage starts at 3.00pm CET ahead of the 3.15pm CET kick-off.
How to watch Scotland v Italy in Italy
Fans in Italy don’t get to watch Scotland v Italy for free but it is available on Sky Sports Italia. Kick-off is at 3.15pm CET.
Scotland v Italy: Other global streams
USA: Fans in the USA can watch Scotland v Italy on Peacock. The NBC streaming platform costs $7.99 a month.
Australia: Stan Sport will show Scotland v Italy in Australia. Stan Sport costs $15 per month on top of your base subscription plan.
New Zealand: In New Zealand, Scotland v Italy is on Sky Sport. A streaming sub costs $49.99 per month or $499.99 per year.
South Africa: SuperSport will have coverage of Scotland v Italy in South Africa, on TV and online.
Scotland v Italy preview
It’s 25 years since Italy made their Six Nations debut against Scotland in Rome. The Azzurri’s victory that day didn’t turn out to be a sign of things to come – they’ve “won” the Wooden Spoon more often than not – but they’ll be confident of causing an upset in Edinburgh today.
For starters, head coach Gonzalo Quesada’s side picked up a surprise win over Scotland last year, shocking opponents who were riding high after a fourth consecutive Calcutta Cup victory over England. Italy also finished last year’s championship with a record return of two wins (against Scotland and Wales) and a draw (against France), and were unfortunate their performance was only good enough to warrant fifth place in the final Six Nations table.
Quesada’s Italy Six Nations squad features several players who’d be the envy of any other side in Europe, particularly in the backs where Ange Capuozzo is a scintillating presence on the wing, and the centre pairing of Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello (last year’s player of the tournament) is a match for anyone.
Italy’s Autumn Nations Series didn’t go as they’d have hoped, however, with a narrow victory over Georgia, an 11-29 defeat to the All Blacks and an 18-50 thrashing by Argentina feeling like a disappointing return. But the side has been steadily building in style, ability and confidence over a number of years, and should not be underestimated in this year’s championship.
Although Scotland go into the match as favourites, their preparation has not gone as planned. Inside centre Sione Tuipulotu, who’s emerged as one of the stars of this exciting team, suffered a pectoral muscle injury in training with his club side, Glasgow Warriors, and has been ruled out of the whole tournament. His absence leaves a massive hole as both a player and a captain, especially as his centre partnership with Huw Jones has been tipped for British & Irish Lions recognition.
Even without Tuipulotu, Scotland’s back line is up there with the best in the tournament. Any side that can select the one-off genius of Finn Russell at fly-half has an enviable point of difference with their opponents, while the impressively versatile Blair Kinghorn is a regular for European champions Toulouse. On the wings, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe are locked in an engrossing tussle to become Scotland’s highest try scorer in history. Van Der Merwe is currently one ahead of Graham on 30.
Scotland come into the tournament off the back of a promising Autumn Nations Series, featuring comfortable wins over Fiji (albeit a second-string line-up), Portugal and Australia. They also lost to world champions South Africa, but few realistically expected the Scots to beat the Springboks – even in their Murrayfield fortress.
And there’s a growing feeling for Scotland of, “If not now, when?” Gregor Townsend’s side have become a force to be reckoned with in the Six Nations, and can beat anybody on their day. But they’ve also struggled to put together runs of back-to-back wins, and remain vulnerable to losing matches they really should win – they almost threw away a 20-0 half-time lead in last season’s clash with Wales at the Principality Stadium.
Scotland won the last-ever Five Nations in 1999, but are yet to be crowned champions in the six-team era. If 2025 is going to be their year, they’ll need a bit more consistency and for their numerous star players to deliver.
Coming up later today:
Scotland v Italy teams and officials
For Scotland, Stafford McDowall (who captained the side against Portugal in the Autumn Nations Series) has the unenviable task of filling in for Sione Tuipulotu. In the pack, Dave Cherry and Jonny Gray make their first starts since 2023. Finn Russell and Rory Darge are co-captains
There are few surprises in the Italy team, as Quesada names Ange Capuozzo, fly-half Paolo Garbisi and star centre partnership Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello in his starting XV. Michele Lamaro continues as captain.
SCOTLAND
15. Blair Kinghorn
14. Darcy Graham
13. Huw Jones
12. Stafford McDowall
11. Duhan van der Merwe
10. Finn Russell (co-captain)
9. Ben White
1. Pierre Schoeman
2. Dave Cherry
3. Zander Fagerson
4. Jonny Gray
5. Grant Gilchrist
6. Jamie Ritchie
7. Rory Darge (co-captain)
8. Matt Fagerson
Replacements:
16. Ewan Ashman
17. Rory Sutherland
18. Will Hurd
19. Gregor Brown
20. Jack Dempsey
21. George Horne
22. Tom Jordan
23. Kyle Rowe
ITALY
15. Tommaso Allan
14. Ange Capuozzo
13. Juan Ignacio Brex
12. Tommaso Menoncello
11. Monty Ioane
10. Paolo Garbisi
9. Martin Page-Relo
1. Danilo Fischetti
2. Giacomo Nicotera
3. Simone Ferrari
4. Dino Lamb
5. Federico Ruzza
6. Sebastian Negri
7. Michele Lamaro (captain)
8. Lorenzo Cannone
Replacements:
16. Gianmarco Lucchesi
17. Luca Rizzoli
18. Marco Riccioni
19. Niccolò Cannone
20. Manuel Zuliani
21. Ross Vintcent
22. Alessandro Garbisi
23. Simone Gesi
England’s Karl Dickson is today’s Six Nations referee, assisted by Luke Pearce of England and Damian Schneider of Argentina. Marius Jonker of South Africa is the TMO.
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