Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend will take charge of an Emerging Scotland side that will face Italy under-23s next month..

The match at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on December 14, will be Emerging Scotland’s first game, and will involve the best young players in the country as part of the National Academy pilot programme.

The players involved in the programme were selected from Scottish Rugby’s regional academies as well as the Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby senior academies.

The senior Scotland coaching group - Townsend and assistant Steve Tandy, Pieter de Villiers and Pete Horne, will all be involved in the Emerging Scotland set-up.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “This fixture enables us to bring our best young players together, have a week of training with national team coaches, and take on a quality international side.

“Similar fixtures that will look to expose emerging talented Scottish players to high-level competition will aim to be included going forward.

Gregor Townsend during a Scotland training sessionGregor Townsend during a Scotland training session (Image: SNS) "Probably the most important element of a young player’s development is learning by playing at a higher level than you’ve previously experienced.

"The game has always been the best teacher and we believe that our players will reap the benefits from this experience.

“We’ve enjoyed our involvement in coaching the young players through the national academy. It takes us back to the reasons why you are a coach in the first place, to help people improve.

“This has allowed us first-hand to learn more about our best young developing players by working with them more regularly.”

The national 'A' team matches forms part of the new player pathway, replacing the semi-professional Super Series league which was scrapped earlier this year. 

That will be an area of focus for David Nucifora, Scottish Rugby's new high-performance advisor.

Nucifora said: “Connecting talented players who are progressing through the pathway to the national team coaches and to the opportunity of playing an international fixture adds huge value to their development.

“Our aim needs to be to find ways of expediting the development of young Scottish players capable of playing at the pinnacle of the game and I believe an experience such as this will be significantly beneficial.”