Kellock's captaincy bid as Scots face Italy

Scotland skipper Alastair Kellock insists he is not thinking about the possibility of captaining his country at the World Cup ahead of Saturday's final warm-up against Italy at Murrayfield. Scotland coach Andy Robinson has so far refused to confirm his captain for next month's tournament in New Zealand, where his side's first round opponents include Argentina and England. While Kellock has been given a golden chance to stake his claim to the armband against the Azzurri, the towering lock forward insists he is only pre-occupied with a victory. "It is huge for me to get the captaincy back - in fact it is huge just to be starting," said Kellock, who captained Scotland through this year's Six Nations. "But I am not thinking about who will be skipper in the World Cup. Coach Andy Robinson will make his decision and reveal it when he announces the squad on Monday. "There are leaders all over this team, which makes it even more special to be the guy chosen to wear the armband." As expected, Robinson has made wholesale changes from the team which edged Ireland 10-6 at Murrayfield two weeks ago, with only centre Graeme Morrison retaining his place. Of particular interest to Robinson before he names his 30-man squad for New Zealand on Monday will be the contribution of Lions pair Chris Cusiter and Euan Murray, who are both expected to feature despite being named on the bench."Chris is fit now and this gives him the chance to put his hand up and be back in the squad," Robinson said. "They weren't fit for the Ireland game and I said that for them to be involved in the tournament 30 they had to be involved this weekend. "If they weren't involved this weekend I wouldn't have taken them to New Zealand, so it was one of those stipulations in terms of training - they had to get themselves ready to play against Italy. "Euan is fit to have started, and Chris wouldn't be in the 22 either if he couldn't have started, but again it's about competition for places and people getting in the starting team." Italy coach Nick Mallett has also made sweeping changes to his starting line-up following last week's 31-24 defeat of Japan in Cesena. The South African has restored a largely first choice three-quarter line with only Tommaso Benvenuti keeping his place on the wing, although he switches from left to right. Up front only captain Sergio Parisse at number eight and front-rowers Andrea Lo Cicero and Leonardo Ghiraldini keep their places. Mallett said he had shuffled his line-up in order to give his squad as much game-time as possible. "If you're part of the 30 players who are going to the World Cup it's important to feel like part of group and to do so you must play," Mallett said. "If the youngsters play well it will be very good for their confidence for the games against Russia and the USA. "We'll only know after the games against Japan and Scotland if we're ready, the southern hemisphere teams are advanced because they're playing in the Tri-Nations at a very high level.