Full-back Ollie Smith, utility back fly-half Blair Kinghorn, lock Sam Skinner replace injured trio Stuart Hogg (ankle), Finn Russell (knee), Richie Gray (rib) for Scotland vs Italy in Round 5 Six Nations match at Murrayfield; Hamish Watson recalled to start at openside
Thursday 16 March 2023 13:58, UK
Gregor Townsend has made four changes to his Scotland side to face Italy in their Six Nations finale clash, with key men Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell and Richie Gray ruled out injured, and Blair Kinghorn starting at 10.
A knee injury rules Russell out with Kinghorn coming in, while Ollie Smith starts at full-back for his third Test cap in place of Hogg (ankle).
Second-row Richie Gray limped off early against Ireland with a suspected rib injury, which sees Sam Skinner called up and into the starting XV.
The fourth change sees Hamish Watson return to start at openside flanker, with skipper Jamie Ritchie shifting back to blindside and Matt Fagerson dropping to the bench.
The replacements bench sees a number of alterations, with all three front-rows changed: hooker Ewan Ashman, loosehead Rory Sutherland, tighthead WP Nel come in for Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti and Simon Berghan respectively.
Munster's uncapped Ben Healy - Tipperary-born but Scottish-qualified - comes onto the bench, as does Bath centre Cameron Redpath, with Chris Harris dropping out of the squad.
Smith combines with wings Kyle Steyn and Duhan van der Merwe to form the back-three, while the centre partnership is unchanged in Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu.
Scrum-half Ben White starts alongside Kinghorn at half-back, while the starting front-row is unchanged: Pierre Schoeman at loosehead, George Turner at hooker, and Zander Fagerson at tighthead.
Jonny Gray partners Skinner at second row, with Jack Dempsey completing the back-row at No 8 alongside Ritchie and Watson.
Scotland: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Ben White; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 George Turner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Sam Skinner, 5 Jonny Gray, 6 Jamie Ritchie (c), 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 WP Nel, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 Ali Price, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Cameron Redpath.
Italy have made four changes for the trip to Murrayfield, with winger Simone Gesi and replacement hooker Marco Manfredi set for their Azzurri debuts.
Alessandro Fusco makes his first Championship start at scrum-half, while Edoardo Iachizzi and Marco Riccioni also return.
Italy: 15 Tommaso Allan, 14 Pierre Bruno, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 3 Marco Riccioni, 4 Edoardo Iachizzi, 5 Federico Ruzza, 6 Sebastian Negri, 7, Michele Lamaro, 8 Lorenzo Cannone
Replacements: 16 Marco Manfredi, 17 Federico Zani, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Niccolo Cannone, 20 Giovanni Pettinelli, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Luca Morisi
