Six Nations: Smith, Kinghorn, Watson & Skinner replace big names for Scotland
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Train Like a Pro: Passing, box kicks & contact with Scotland's Ali Price & Blair Kinghorn
Six Nations: Scotland v Italy |
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Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh Date: Saturday, 18 March Kick-off: 12:30 GMT |
Coverage: Watch on BBC One Scotland & BBC iPlayer, listen on Radio 5 Sports Extra & BBC Radio Scotland Extra, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app |
Ollie Smith and Blair Kinghorn will start in place of Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell in Scotland's final Six Nations home match against Italy on Saturday.
Full-back Hogg and fly-half Russell were ruled out after sustaining injuries in Sunday's defeat by Ireland.
Richie Gray drops out after being withdrawn early at Murrayfield, with Sam Skinner taking over at lock.
Captain Jamie Ritchie moves to openside to accommodate Hamish Watson on the blindside as Matt Fagerson is benched.
Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, WP Nel, Ben Healy and Cameron Redpath are added to the squad as replacements, while Jamie Bhatti, Simon Berghan and Chris Harris miss out at Murrayfield.
Gregor Townsend's side won their opening two matches in the championship before defeats by France and Ireland.
"There are a lot of similarities to what happened in November," the head coach said of what his side must do to recover from the defeat by the Irish.
"We had a 60-minute performance at a very level against New Zealand but didn't win that game. The week after, we were really focussed on a difficult opponent in Argentina and we played really well.
"If we can do something similar against Italy, that will give us a boost heading into the World Cup preparations."
While Italy are bottom of the table, having lost all four games so far, they have run their opponents close. In particular, their performances against Ireland and France has given Townsend pause for thought.
"They play really good attacking rugby," he said. "They are a top side, and it's not just in this championship they've proved it.
"They've beaten Australia in November, they beat Wales away this year. They are growing and the way they play puts teams under pressure because they attack from everywhere."
Scotland: Smith, Steyn, H Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe, Kinghorn, White; Schoeman, Turner, Z Fagerson, Skinner, J Gray, Ritchie (capt), Watson, Dempsey.
Replacements: Ashman, Sutherland, Nel, Cummings, M Fagerson, Price, Healy, Redpath.
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