Star wing returns to Scotland line-up for Wales clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Darcy Graham has returned to the Scotland starting line-up ahead of this weekend’s Six Nations match against Wales at Murrayfield.
Graham missed the previous match against England after suffering a concussion against Ireland but will start this weekend against a nation he has fond memories of facing, having made his debut against Wales in 2018 and scoring his first try against them the following year.
Fresh from his Player of the Match performance in the tight loss to England, Duhan van der Merwe starts on the opposite wing.
Huw Jones and Tom Jordan make up the centre partnership for the third game in a row with Blair Kinghorn starting at fullback.
Try scorer at Twickenham, Ben White, who has scored in each of Scotland’s opening three championship fixtures, will start alongside Finn Russell as the halfbacks.
There are no changes to the forward pack for the visit of Wales, who ran Ireland close in their last outing.
Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry and Zander Fagerson again comprise the front row, having done likewise against England and Italy, with Jonny Gray and Grant Gilchrist the lock pairing once more.
In the back row, Jamie Ritchie is again named at blindside flanker, with co-captain Rory Darge on the openside and Jack Dempsey anchoring the scrum at No.8.
Rory Sutherland has recovered from the back injury that ruled him out of the previous round and is named on the bench alongside fellow front-rowers Ewan Ashman and Will Hurd, both of whom have come on in each game of the championship so far.
Forwards Gregor Brown and Matt Fagerson join scrumhalf George Horne, centre Stafford McDowall and Kyle Rowe, who will cover the back three, to make up a 5-3 split on the bench.
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Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Tom Jordan, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell (co-captain), 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge (co-captain), 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Jonny Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Gregor Brown, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 George Horne, 22 Stafford McDowall, 23 Kyle Rowe.
Date: Saturday, March 8
Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Kick-off: 16.45 (16.45 GMT)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
