Scotland A includes seven from Portugal win
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Seven players from the win over Portugal will play for Scotland ‘A’ against Chile at Edinburgh Stadium on Saturday.
Mosese Tuipulotu is set for his first appearance in a Scotland jersey.
Scotland A head coach Pete Horne appointed Stafford McDowall to lead the side, fresh from captaining Scotland to a 59-21 win against Portugal.
Try scorer McDowall will be joined by seven other players who featured in the victory in front of more than 60,000 at Scottish Gas Murrayfield.
Scotland A will be in action for the first time since 2022, when they played against Chile in Santiago, running out 45-5 winners on that occasion.
After scoring his first Scotland try last weekend, Jamie Bhatti is selected at loosehead prop and is joined in the front row by Glasgow Warriors hooker Gregor Hiddleston along with Edinburgh Rugby tighthead D’Arcy Rae who made his second appearance for Scotland, against Fiji, at the start of November.
Marshall Sykes starts in the second row, alongside Ewan Johnson who made his Murrayfield debut off the bench against Portugal. The towering second row is selected off the back of impressive performances on the Americas Tour.
Two of the debutants from Saturday’s win, Ben Muncaster and Freddy Douglas, start at number eight and openside flank respectively, making up the back row with Tom Dodd. Former Scotland U20 back-row Dodd joined Edinburgh Rugby ahead of the 2023/24 season on a two-year deal and has been named vice-captain.
Scrumhalf and vice-captain Jamie Dobie will be partnered by stand-off Ross Thompson in the half-backs, and in the centres McDowall takes the inside while Mosese Tuipulotu will start at outside centre. Brother of Scotland captain Sione, Mosese will make his first appearance in the dark blue of Scotland.
Matt Currie, another to make their Scotland home debut on Saturday, starts on the right wing, while Ross McCann is on the left wing. The team is completed by Arron Reed, who has four tries to his name in just three Scotland appearances, at fullback.
Among the replacements, Edinburgh prospects Harri Morris and Mikey Jones are primed to come on at hooker and prop, with Glasgow Warriors’ Fin Richardson the second prop replacement.
Warriors second row Jare Oguntibeju and Edinburgh flank Liam McConnell, who recently captained Scotland at the World Rugby Under-20 Trophy victory, are the others set to come on in the forwards.
Scotland A: 15 Arron Reed, 14 Matt Currie, 13 Mosese Tuipulotu, 12 Stafford McDowall (captain), 11 Ross McCann, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Jamie Dobie, 8 Ben Muncaster, 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Tom Dodd, 5 Ewan Johnson, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’Arcy Rae, 2 Gregor Hiddleston, 1 Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16 Harri Morris, 17 Mikey Jones, 18 Fin Richardson, 19 Jare Oguntibeju, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Ben Afshar, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Jack Brown
Date: Saturday, November 23
Venue: Edinburgh Stadium
Kick-off: 18.00 GMT (15.00 Chile time)
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (France)
Assistant Referees: Federico Vedovelli (France), Franco Rosella (France)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (France)
