Duncan Weir makes his first start since 2016 as Scotland kick off their Autumn Nations Cup campaign in Italy.

Stuart McInally replaces the injured Fraser Brown at hooker as head coach Gregor Townsend makes four changes from the Six Nations win in Wales.

Centre Sam Johnson and winger Duhan van der Merwe come in, with James Lang and Blair Kinghorn dropping to the bench.

Exeter duo Sam Skinner and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne join a much-changed list of replacements, along with George Turner, WP Nel and Nick Haining, who were not involved in the 14-10 win in Llanelli.

Scrum-half Hidalgo-Clyne made his last Scotland appearance as a replacement against Argentina in 2018.

"While we gained confidence from the win over Wales, we have been working hard to improve in all areas of our game, and we believe that there is a lot more to come from this group of players," said Townsend as his side seek a fifth successive win.

"The energy has been great at training and we are seeing real competition for places throughout our squad."

Weir, 29, has good memories of Italy, having kicked a last-ditch drop-goal to secure a 21-20 Six Nations victory in 2014.

The Italians avenged that loss at Murrayfield in the following year but Scotland have won all of the eight meetings since.

The Six Nations match in Rome in March ended 17-0, with Stuart Hogg, Chris Harris and Hastings touching down.

Scotland will host France and Fiji next, with their tournament ending away to as yet unconfirmed opponents.

Scotland team

Scotland: Hogg (c); Graham, Harris, Johnson, Van der Merwe; Weir, Price; Sutherland, McInally, Z Fagerson; Cummings, Gray; Ritchie, Watson, Thomson.

Replacements: Turner, Kebble, Nel, Skinner, Haining, Hidalgo-Clyne, Lang, Kinghorn.