(Reuters) – Cameron Redpath will start at inside centre and George Horne at scrumhalf as Scotland coach Gregor Townsend made three changes to his side for the Six Nations Championship with Italy in Rome on Saturday and opted for a 6-2 split between forwards and backs on the bench.
The other change to the starting line-up sees flanker Andy Christie on the side of the scrum for Jamie Ritchie, who drops to a bench packed with forwards ahead of the anticipated physical confrontation.
Redpath is in for the injured Sione Tuipulotu, while Horne replaced Ben White, who has been a fixture in the side in this championship. Ali Price is the replacement scrumhalf on the bench.
Scotland are unbeaten in their last 13 meetings with Italy and last suffered defeat in Rome in 2013 when they lost 13-6. They have won two of their three games in this year’s Six Nations, suffering a controversial 20-16 home defeat to France.
Scotland team:
15-Blair Kinghorn, 14-Kyle Steyn, 13-Huw Jones, 12- Cameron Redpath, 11-Duhan van der Merwe, 10-Finn Russell (co-captain), 9-George Horne; 1-Pierre Schoeman, 2-George Turner, 3-Zander Fagerson, 4-Grant Gilchrist, 5-Scott Cummings, 6-Andy Christie, 7-Rory Darge (co-captain), 8-Jack Dempsey
Replacements: 16-Ewan Ashman, 17-Alec Hepburn, 18-Elliot Millar-Mills, 19-Sam Skinner, 20- Jamie Ritchie, 21-Matt Fagerson, 22-Ali Price, 23-Kyle Rowe
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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