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Scots draft in Gilchrist in late change

London - Scotland have been forced to hand a starting berth to Grant Gilchrist for Saturday's Six Nations clash against Italy after Richie Gray failed to recover from a hamstring injury.

Gray was originally included in the Scotland line-up named by head coach Vern Cotter on Thursday despite suffering the muscle problem in last weekend's thrashing by England.

But 24 hours later Scottish Rugby announced the Toulouse star was ruled out of the showdown at Murrayfield.

Edinburgh forward Gilchrist was not in the initial list of substitutes, but he has been drafted into the team ahead of Tim Swinson, who remains on the bench.

Gilchrist has earned 15 caps for Scotland since making his debut in 2013.

Having defeated Ireland and Wales, the Scot are aiming for three Six Nations victories for the first time since 2006 in what will be Cotter's last match as coach.

Teams:

Scotland

15 Stuart Hogg; 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tim Visser; 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price; 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 John Barclay (captain); 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist; 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gordon Reid

Substitutes: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Cornell du Preez, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Matt Scott

Italy

15 Edoardo Padovani; 14 Angelo Esposito, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti; 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Edoardo Gori; 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Abraham Steyn, 6 Maxime Mbanda; 5 George Biagi, 4 Marco Fuser; 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Ornel Gega, 1 Andrea Lovotti.

Substitutes: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Sami Panico, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Dries Van Schalkwyk, 20 Federico Ruzza, 21 Francesco Minto, 22 Marcello Violi, 23 Luca Sperandio.

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