Gilchrist becomes captain

GRANT Gilchrist will captain Scotland as they kick off their summer tour against Canada in Edmonton on Saturday.

The second row takes over the leadership responsibilities from Stuart McInally, who suffered a calf injury prior to the team flying out ahead of their three-Test tour, which also takes in games against the United States and Argentina.

Gilchrist, 27, was previously named Scotland captain by Vern Cotter having led the team on two Tests of their 2014 tour of the Americas and South Africa but a broken arm forced him to miss the majority of the season.

Fraser Brown starts at hooker in place of McInally, who remains with the squad, while Jamie Ritchie will partner Edinburgh club-mate Magnus Bradbury in the back row as he makes his Scotland debut.

For Bradbury, it is a third appearance for the Dark Blues and a first since he was stripped of the Edinburgh captaincy last year following an off-field incident in Edinburgh, when he suffered a head injury during a fall on a night out, and he starts in the back row with David Denton.

Denton and Brown will be the only non-Edinburgh players in the pack and head coach Gregor Townsend hopes familiarity pays off.

“It was going to be almost an Edinburgh pack,” he said. “Stuart McInally didn’t pass a fitness test so is not available this game and Fraser Brown steps in.

“The player in the pack winning his first cap, Jamie Ritchie, had a great end to the season and has been very consistent over the two or three seasons with Edinburgh.”

James Lang will also be making his i nternational bow i n the centres, where he will line up outside half-backs Sam HidalgoClyne and Ruaridh Jackson who have the chance to impress at nine and 10 respectively while Chris Harris completes the midfield.

Lewis Carmichael and Adam Hastings are the only uncapped players on the bench, while Blair Kinghorn starts in his favoured position of full-back.

Phil Mickelson is among the field in Memphis.