Hardie ruled out, Ford and Wilson start

Scotland back-row John Hardie has been ruled out of Sunday's Rugby World Cup game against USA at Elland Road, with a reshuffle having been made.

Having produced inconclusive results to a precautionary HIA 2 (head injury assessment) after Wednesday's win over Japan, the openside – who remains symptom free – was reassessed on Friday.

It was here that, 48 hours after the game (HIA 3), Hardie failed one component of the tested elements (Cogstate), and was subsequently considered unavailable for Sunday's game. He will now continue with his graduated return-to-play protocol.

As a result, Ryan Wilson has been promoted from the bench into the starting back-row.

To accommodate Wilson’s inclusion and retain cover for the forwards, hooker Fraser Brown will now take the number 20 shirt as back-row replacement, with Ross Ford starting.

Kevin Bryce comes into the matchday squad to take the replacement hooker role vacated by Ford.

Scotland (revised): 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ryan Wilson, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Richie Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Fraser Brown, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Matt Scott.

Date: Sunday, September 27
Venue: Elland Road, Leeds
Kick-off: 14:30 local
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
Television match official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)