Kenny Murray has made three changes to his Scotland team that started the defeat to France last time out ahead of their trip to face Italy in the Six Nations Under-20s.
Gregor Hiddleston makes his first start for Scotland U20 at hooker, packing down with loosehead prop Mikey Jones and tighthead prop Gregor Scougall for the Round 4 clash in Treviso.
In the back row, captain Rhys Tait moves to No.8 for the injured Ollie Leatherbarrow while Tim Brown is promoted from the bench to start at openside flanker to complete the pack.
Elsewhere, try scorer from the last game against France, Josh Taylor, will start his fourth consecutive game alongside Max Williamson in the second row.
There is also a familiar look to the half-back pairing, with Murray Redpath starting at scrum-half alongside Christian Townsend at stand-off for the third consecutive match.
Andy Stirrat and Duncan Munn form the centre pairing again, with Ben Evans and Ross McKnight on the wings and Robin McClintock completing the starting team at full-back.
Duncan Hood, Ali Rogers, Callum Norrie and Rudi Brown are all named on the bench along with Innes Hill, who could make his international debut should he come on.
Back-three player Keiran Clark could also make his Scotland U20 bow, with Thomas Glendenning and Jed Gelderbloom can also available to be called upon as reinforcements.
Murray said: “Although the scoreline didn’t reflect it, there were some positives to take from the game against France. France were strong and powerful.
“We know Italy will bring more of the same, with added physicality, but we’ve already shown in the tournament that we can be strong, physical, and powerful too.
“We’ve selected a fairly settled side to face Italy. There are number of key partnerships within the team who have played several games together now and are beginning to gel, we’ll look for the whole squad to do the basics right to get the performance we want.”
Scotland U20 team to face Italy:
15. Robin McClintock (Montpellier) (3)
14. Ross McKnight (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors) (6)
13. Duncan Munn (Boroughmuir Bears/Glasgow Warriors) (3)
12. Andy Stirrat (GHA) (2)
11. Ben Evans (Heriot’s Rugby/Edinburgh Rugby) (2)
10. Christian Townsend (Ayrshire Bulls/Glasgow Warriors) (8)
9. Murray Redpath (Newcastle University) (7)
1. Michael Jones (Heriot’s Rugby/Edinburgh Rugby) (8)
2. Gregor Hiddleston (GHA) (3)
3. Gregor Scougall (Currie Chieftains) (3)
4. Josh Taylor (Ealing Trailfinders) (3)
5. Max Williamson (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors) (7)
6. Matthew Deehan (Newcastle Falcons) (3)
8. Rhys Tait (Boroughmuir Bears/Glasgow Warriors) (8) CAPTAIN
7. Tim Brown (Glasgow Hawks) (1)
Replacements
16. Duncan Hood (Bath University) (2)
17. Ali Rogers (Glasgow Hawks) (2)
18. Callum Norrie (Strathallan School) (3)
19. Rudi Brown (Watsonians Rugby/Edinburgh Rugby) (1)
20. Innes Hill (Ealing Trailfinders) (0)
21. Jed Gelderbloom (Edinburgh Rugby) (1)
22. Thomas Glendinning (Glasgow Hawks) (4)
23. Keiran Clark (Southern Knights) (0)
