50 up for Fraser Brown as Scotland tweak pack

Adam Kyriacou

Scotland hooker Fraser Brown will mark a half-century of Test caps for his country as one of three changes that will face France on Sunday.

All three alterations come in the forward pack where Brown will become the 43rd Scotland player to reach the milestone – and only the fourth in his position – with Edinburgh’s Stuart McInally moving to the bench.

Edinburgh pair Grant Gilchrist (second-row) and Nick Haining (number eight) complete the starting changes, with Exeter Chiefs lock Sam Skinner returning from injury to join the squad on the bench for the first time this campaign and Magnus Bradbury taking a place among the replacements.

The bench also features the return of 27-times capped Worcester Warriors fly-half Duncan Weir, who could make his first Scotland appearance since the 2017 championship, while Glasgow Warriors’ Kyle Steyn would make his debut if called upon from the bench.

The remainder of the pack is unchanged once again, with props Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) and Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh), Glasgow lock Scott Cummings and Edinburgh back-row forwards Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson five of the 11 players to start their fourth consecutive Test this campaign.

An unchanged back division sees try-scorers against Italy – centre Chris Harris (Gloucester), fly-half Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) and full-back Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) – return to reform their respective partnerships with Sam Johnson in midfield, Ali Price at scrum-half, and Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) and Sean Maitland (Saracens) in the back three.

Head coach Gregor Townsend said: “This week we face a France team that looks galvanised since the World Cup, with a potential Grand Slam in their sights following impressive wins over England, Italy and Wales.

“We have a lot of respect for their coaching team and the quality of player they possess throughout their squad, many of them just in their early stages of their international careers. We’re going to have to deliver our best rugby of the championship in order to beat a team in such good form.

“France’s victories have been built on an aggressive and well-organised defence, so the precision, decision-making and effort in our attacking game will have to be very good in order to get in behind them this weekend.”

He added: “Coming back to BT Murrayfield is always a very special feeling and the energy generated from the Scotland supporters means a great deal to everyone associated with the squad.

“Our players are looking forward to revelling in that atmosphere on Sunday.”

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Blair Kinghorn, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ali Price, 8 Nick Haining, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Rory Sutherland
Replacements: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 George Horne, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Kyle Steyn

Date: Sunday, March 8
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

 

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