Gray starts for Scotland against Italy

By Mark Stevens
16/3/23

Exeter Chiefs forward Jonny Gray retains his place in a Scotland starting line-up that will show four changes for the visit of Italy to BT Murrayfield in the final round of the Guinness Six Nations Championship on Saturday (12:30pm).

The 29-year-old lock will pack down with former Chiefs team-mate Sam Skinner, who comes into the second row in place of Richie Gray, who was forced off in last weekend's loss to Ireland.

Elsewhere, Blair Kinghorn is named at fly-half with Ollie Smith starting at full-back as both Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg are ruled out through injury. The other change sees Hamish Watson return at openside flanker.

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 SIDE TO FACE ITALY

15. Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) 2 caps
14. Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors) 9 caps
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 35 caps
12. Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) 15 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby) 27 caps
10. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) 42 caps
9. Ben White (London Irish) 13 caps
1. Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) 20 caps
2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 34 caps
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 57 caps
4. Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) 24 caps
5. Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs) 76 caps
6. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby, capt) 40 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby) 56 caps
8. Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors) 8 caps

16. Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks) 6 caps
17. Rory Sutherland (Ulster Rugby) 22 caps
18. WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) 53 caps
19. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) 24 caps
20. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) 32 caps
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) 60 caps
22. Ben Healy (Munster) uncapped
23. Cameron Redpath (Bath Rugby) 4 caps