Last Updated: Friday, March 14, 2008, 17:13

Danielli and Thomson to start

Scotland coach Frank Hadden has made two injury- enforced changes for Saturday's final Six Nations match against Italy in Rome.

Simon Danielli returns to the wing in place of Rory Lamont who suffered a triple cheekbone fracture in Saturday's 15-9 victory over England at Murrayfield, while Fergus Thomson comes in for Ross Ford (ankle) at hooker.

Ulster's Danielli, who missed the cut for last year's World Cup after being part of the 2003 squad, performed well for Scotland A in their 67-7 win over Ireland A last month.

"Simon has been pushing at the door and deserves the opportunity this weekend . . . (He) is a straight swap for Rory," Hadden said.

Glasgow hooker Thomson, who impressed when he came off the bench on Saturday, was an automatic choice to make his first championship start after Ford was ruled out.

Despite the morale-boosting win over England, a loss by more than five points at the weekend would relegate Scotland to a second successive wooden spoon.

SCOTLAND: 15 Hugo Southwell; 14 Simon Danielli, 13 Simon Webster, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Nikki Walker; 10 Chris Paterson, 9 Mike Blair (capt); 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Fergus Thomson, 3 Euan Murray, 4 Nathan Hines, 5 Scott MacLeod, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Allister Hogg, 8 Simon Taylor. Replacements: 16 S Lawson; 17 A Dickinson; 18 C Smith; 19 J White; 20 K Brown; 21 R Lawson; 22 D Parks.