Nathan Hines comes back into the side to face Italy

Experienced lock Nathan Hines, who made his Test return off the bench against Wales, starts ahead of Jim Hamilton.

It will be Hines' 40th cap and his second-row partner will be Scott Murray, who equals Gregor Townsend's Scotland cap record total of 82.

The only other change to the match-day 22 sees Andrew Henderson replace the injured Simon Webster on the bench.

Interview: Scotland coach Frank Hadden

Interview: Scotland lock Nathan Hines

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Hadden explained he had thought long and hard about the second-row options before recalling Hines.

"I couldn't really have asked for any more from Jim Hamilton in the match against the Welsh but given that Nathan (Hines) has missed out on some matches through injury I am keen to see him," he said.

"We've played 18 matches since I've been coach but Nathan hasn't been involved in that many of these games - and the World Cup is not all that far off.

"He is a top-quality player, and I think we felt on balance that we needed to see him play a bigger part in the game this week than he did last week.

"We discussed it for a long time, and it was very tempting indeed to stick with a winning side - and especially a winning pack which had performed so well against Wales - but I think on balance we needed to see more of Nathan."

Ali Hogg was also close to a recall in the back row, but Hadden opted against any further tinkering, the Edinburgh flanker again having to settle for a place on the bench.

The coach believes his side will have to produce a similar performance against Italy to the one that did for Wales.

"Our pack stepped up to the mark against Wales and they will have to do so again as the Italians forwards are formidable," Hadden added.

Meanwhile, Scotland A will be captained by Castres fly-half Gordon Ross for Friday's match against Italy A at McDiarmid Park in Perth.

The second-string side have not played since losing 44-20 to Australia A in November.

New Zealand-born Robbie Kydd, of Northampton, features at full-back in a side that also includes senior internationals Simon Danielli, Rory Lamont, Graeme Morrison, Ben MacDougall, Scott Macleod, Johnnie Beattie and Donnie Macfadyen.