Scotland team: Duhan van der Merwe axed and Zander Fagerson benched as rising star slots into Scottish ‘Bomb Squad’
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend and axed wing Duhan van der Merwe.
Duhan van der Merwe has once again found himself out of the Scotland picture after being dropped for their Six Nations Championship clash with France.
In a number of intriguing decisions from Gregor Townsend, Van der Merwe has been replaced by Darcy Graham while Zander Fagerson finds himself on the bench in a 6-2 split as they look to counteract Les Bleus’ ‘Bomb Squad’.
The South African-born wing has not been in good form this season and only returned following an injury to Jamie Dobie.
However, after a poor display in the narrow victory over Wales, he misses out on the Scottish 23 for the French clash at Murrayfield.
Graham therefore comes into the team on the left wing with Steyn on the right, while Blair Kinghorn keeps his place at full-back.
The rest of the backline is unchanged as Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones combine at centre with Finn Russell and Ben White the half-back combination.
Fagerson’s Six Nations drop-off
Up front, their injury issues have eased slightly thanks to the return of Jack Dempsey at number eight, but the big news is Fagerson’s omission from the XV.
The tighthead has not been quite at his best in this Six Nations, but you suspect that he might be there in order to add impact off the bench in the second period.
France team: Fabien Galthie makes five changes including midfield shake-up for Scotland showdown
D’arcy Rae is given the opportunity from the start and he joins George Turner and Pierre Schoeman in the front-row, who replace Dave Cherry and Nathan McBeth respectively.
As well as the aforementioned Dempsey, there are other alterations in the back five of the scrum as Townsend opts to shift Matt Fagerson at blindside and put Gregor Brown back alongside Scott Cummings at lock.
On the bench, the Scotland boss has gone forward-heavy with Ewan Ashman back in the mix following his horror show against Italy in Rome.
He and Zander Fagerson are one of six players covering the pack. Hugely gifted youngster Freddy Douglas is another with the 20-year-old finally getting an opportunity after excelling for Edinburgh this season.
Rory Sutherland, Grant Gilchrist are the other forward replacements, while George Horne and Tom Jordan are the back reserves.
Scotland team to face France
Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (c), 11 Kyle Steyn, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5
Scott Cummings, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 George Turner, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Josh Bayliss, 22 George Horne, 23 Tom Jordan
Date: Saturday, March 7
Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Kick-off: 14:10 GMT
Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (IRFU), Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Brett Cronan (RA)
FPRO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
