They entertain an Ireland side also riding the crest of a wave after they put their loss to Wales behind them with a thrilling 16-15 win over England.

Lineen has had his hand forced with centre Mark Bennett training with Glasgow Warriors this week and hooker Russell Anderson dropping out with a knee injury, with Robbie Fergusson and Callum Black getting the respective nods.

Elsewhere, Ruaridh Young comes in at full-back in place of Keith Buchan while Alex Henderson makes his first start in the back row in place of Tommy Spinks, who drops to the bench.

“The changes we have made for the Ireland match reflect the way we want to play against them,” said Lineen.

“They will be a strong and physical opposition with a dangerous back line, who’ll look to cause us problems.

“However, I have once again been really impressed with the attitude of our players. The changes also show the competition for places in this team.

“We played against Edinburgh University on Monday evening and the players were looking strong and off the back of that we will look to fine tune our tactics.

“We’re looking forward to another big game and hopefully a bumper crowd.”

SCOTLAND UNDER-20s

15 Ruaridh Young
14 Damien Hoyland
13 Chris Auld
12 Robbie Fergusson
11 Rory Hughes
10 Tommy Allan
9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne

1 Jamie Bhatti
2 Callum Black
3 Phil Cringle
4 Adam Sinclair
5 Jonny Gray (captain)
6 Alex Henderson
7 Will Bordill
8 Adam Ashe

Replacements:
16 James Malcolm
17 Shawn Muir
18 D’arcy Rae
19 Ruaridh Leishman
20 Tommy Spinks
21 Ali Price
22 Alex Hagart
23 Keith Buchan