Scotland v Italy, Six Nations, Murrayfield, March 19
Evans ruled out of Italy clash
ESPNscrum Staff
March 18, 2011
Scotland's Max Evans stretches to score a try, England v Scotland, Six Nations, Twickenham, England, March 13, 2011
Evans scored a superb individual score against England last weekend © Getty Images
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Winger Max Evans will miss Scotland's Six Nations match with Italy on Saturday due to an ankle strain and Nikki Walker has been called up as his replacement, the Scottish Rugby Union has confirmed.

Evans picked up the injury during his side's defeat to England last weekend and despite intensive treatment the Glasgow Warriors star has failed to recover sufficiently. As a result, Ospreys wing Nikki Walker has been promoted from outside the match-day squad into the starting line-up and is set to win his 22nd Test cap.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson said, "Our medical team have worked tirelessly as ever but Max is not quite right for the rigours of a Test match. We wish him a speedy recovery.

"Nikki has been part of our squad throughout the Championship and played in our last Murrayfield international against Ireland. This is a golden opportunity for him now to produce a special performance."

Robinson named his original team earlier this week and opted to make just one change to the side narrowly beaten at Twickenham. Edinburgh prop Geoff Cross has been recalled at tight-head in a bid to shore up a Scottish scrum that has creaked so far in the Championship. Cross replaces Moray Low, who drops out of the 22, while Newcastle's Euan Murray returns on the bench as Scotland seek to avoid the wooden spoon.

The Murrayfield clash is set to decide this year's wooden spoon with Scotland currently rooted to the bottom of the table after four successive defeat. Italy set up the basement battle with a shock victory over France in Rome last weekend.

"We approach tomorrow with confidence and determined to give the Murrayfield crowd a lot to cheer about," said Robinson.

Revised Scotland team: C Paterson (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), J Ansbro (Northampton), S Lamont (Scarlets), S Danielli (Ulster); R Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), R Lawson (Gloucester); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), G Cross (Edinburgh), R Gray (Glasgow Warriors), A Kellock (Glasgow Warriors, captain), N Hines (Leinster), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), K Brown (Saracens)

Replacements: S Lawson (Gloucester), E Murray (Newcastle), R Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), A Strokosch (Gloucester), M Blair (Edinburgh), D Parks (Cardiff Blues), N De Luca (Edinburgh)

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