David Denton has been named on the bench for Scotland ahead of their final NatWest 6 Nations clash with Italy in Rome on Saturday in Rome (kick-off 12.30pm GMT).
Head Coach Gregor Townsend has made five changes to Scotland’s starting line-up as winger Tommy Seymour, centre Nick Grigg, hooker Fraser Brown, prop Willem Nel and lock Tim Swinson all come into the side.
The changes mean the most experienced squad to be named in the tenure of the current coaching group will travel to the Italian capital seeking to secure a third championship win from five rounds, having defeated France and England at BT Murrayfield earlier in the campaign.
Townsend said: “We’ve had a deeper look at the Ireland game, where we performed well in areas that will have to be better this weekend.
“There were a number of positives in how we took the game to Ireland in attack and defence but this didn’t lead to us scoring enough points to win the game.
“We’ve been pleased with how the players have responded to last week’s disappointment, with the energy they have brought to training and a determination to improve our performance in our final match in this year’s NatWest 6 Nations.”
“Playing Italy will be a very tough game – it always has been for any Scotland side. We are ready for the challenge and have an experienced group of players working hard to finish our campaign with a positive performance and result.”
Scotland
15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors – 59 caps)
14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors – 42 caps)
13 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors – 15 caps)
12 Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors – 3 caps)
11 Sean Maitland (Saracens – 33 caps)
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors – 36 caps)
9 Greig Laidlaw (VC) (Clermont Auvergne – 62 caps)
1 Gordon Reid (London Irish – 31 caps)
2 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors – 30 caps)
3 Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby – 21 caps)
4 Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors – 35 caps)
5 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors – 42 caps)
6 John Barclay (C) (Scarlets – 70 caps)
7 Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby – 19 caps)
8 Ryan Wilson (VC) (Glasgow Warriors – 36 caps)
Replacements
16 Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby – 16 caps)
17 Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors – 7 caps)
18 Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors – 15 caps)
19 Richie Gray (Toulouse – 64 caps)
20 David Denton (Worcester Warriors – 38 caps)
21 Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors – 15 caps)
22 Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors – 32 caps)
23 Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby – 2 caps)