Scotland change six for Springboks

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has made six personnel changes to his starting line-up to face South Africa at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The return of Glasgow Warriors centre Huw Jones is the only change to the back division, with Scotland’s pack featuring the remaining five.

London Irish prop Gordon Reid is set for his first involvement in the autumn campaign as the starting loosehead, with the remaining four those rotated or rested for last weekend’s home win over Fiji.

Vice captain Stuart McInally (hooker) and lock Jonny Gray return from the bench to start once more, while second-row Ben Toolis and back-row Hamish Watson come back into the matchday squad to start.

The final change to the pack is a positional switch for last Saturday’s man-of-the-match winning debutant, Sam Skinner, who starts in the blind-side flank position where he finished the Fiji Test, having started at lock.

Tighthead prop Willem Nel, back-row Ryan Wilson and wing Tommy Seymour – who scored a hat-trick against Fiji – are the only three players named to start a third consecutive Test match this autumn.

Seymour joins full-back Start Hogg and wing Sean Maitland – who scored his fourth consecutive try in a Murrayfield Test – in the back-three, at centre Pete Horne is named alongside returning clubmate Jones, while half-backs Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell feature once more.

Scrum-half Ali Price returns to the Scotland squad for the first time since starting against Wales, on the bench.

Back-row Matt Fagerson has not recovered sufficiently from the dead leg he sustained against Fiji to feature against South Africa.

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Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Sam Skinner, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Ben Toolis, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Josh Strauss, 20 Jamie Ritchie, 21 Ali Price, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Chris Harris

Date: Saturday, November 17
Venue: Murrayfield
Kick-off: 17:20 GMT
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)