Maitland replaces hat-trick hero Kinghorn

Scotland have made four changes to their starting line-up for tomorrow’s second round Six Nationsclash with Ireland at Murrayfield.

Head coach Gregor Townsend has welcomed the added experience of last year’s top try-scoring Saracens wing Sean Maitland, who has recovered from a hamstring injury, to start in place of Blair Kinghorn, who moves to the bench, despite touching down three times against Italy. Maitland will form a familiar back three with fellow British & Irish Lions Tommy Seymour and fullback Stuart Hogg, who will bring a combined 150 caps and 49 tries into their 18th Scotland Test start as a trio tomorrow.

The remaining changes come in the pack, where prop Simon Berghan and back-row Josh Strauss start in place of injured forwards Willem Nel (calf) and Sam Skinner (ankle), while Jonny Gray’s recovery from a shoulder injury sees him replace second-row Ben Toolis.

Townsend said: “We picked up two injuries from last week with WP (Nel) and Sam (Skinner) missing out, which is disappointing for us and them, but have had a boost with a number of proven Test players returning from injury and available to us this week.

“To have that calibre of player and experience around the group in the build-up this week, and during a game of such magnitude, is very important.”

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw (c), 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Simon Berghan, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Allan Dell

Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Rob Harley, 21 Ali Price, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Blair Kinghorn.