Gregor Townsend has made three changes to the Scotland team that will play Italy in Rome on Saturday. 

Cam Redpath replaces the injured Sione Tuipulotu at inside centre, after appearing off the bench in each of the opening three rounds of the Six Nations.

Andy Christie will make his first Scotland start in the back-row as the Saracens man replaces Jamie Ritchie, continuing a yo-yo campaign for the former captain.

Ritchie started the win over Wales, was left out against France, then returned as Scotland retained the Calcutta Cup last time out, but again finds himself out of the starting line-up for the trip to Rome. 

George Horne comes in for Ben White at scrum-half, with the Toulon man not in the matchday 23 - Ali Price comes into the squad on a 6/2 bench that sees Kyle Rowe also return to the squad after missing out against England. 

The front row triumvirate of Pierre Schoeman, George Turner and Zander Fagerson is selected for the eighth Six Nations match in a row, while Scott Cummings and Grant Gilchrist are again the locks. 

The back three is unchanged from the win over England, with Duhan van der Merwe - who is chasing down Stuart Hogg's all-time try-scoring record, and goes into Saturday's game just two scores behind the former captain - again on the left wing alongside Kyle Steyn and fullback Blair Kinghorn

Scotland Rugby News: Scotland head coach Gregor TownsendScotland head coach Gregor Townsend (Image: SNS)

On the bench, Townsend has again opted for Ewan Ashman as the reserve hooker meaning Johnny Matthews again misses out despite his try-scoring efforts for Glasgow against Benetton last weekend. 

After playing only three minutes of the first three games, Edinburgh fly-half Ben Healy drops out of the 23 and is replaced by Matt Fagerson as Scotland opt for a 6/2 forwards/backs split on their bench, a tactic regularly employed by the Azzurri. Blair Kinghorn will be Scotland's back-up fly-half. 

Scotland team to play Italy: Blair Kinghorn, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Cam Redpath, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell (cc), George Horne; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Grant Gilchrist, Scott Cummings, Andy Christie, Rory Darge (cc), Jack Dempsey. 

Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Alec Hepburn, Elliot Millar-Mills, Sam Skinner, Jamie Ritchie, Matt Fagerson, Ali Price, Kyle Rowe