EIGHT NEW FACES GIVEN SHOT AGAINST TONGA

SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend is set to give eight players their first cap against Tonga on Saturday and has thrown down the gauntlet to them to show they have what it takes to thrive at Test level. Four start — Pierre Schoeman, Jamie Hodgson, Sione Tuipulotu and Rufus McLean — and four will come off the bench — Marshall Sykes, Luke Crosbie, Jamie Dobie and Ross Thompson — against the South Sea Islanders in a second-string Scotland side. As the match falls outside the international window, no exiles were released by their clubs, which meant the likes of captain Stuart Hogg, centre Chris Harris, and fly-half Finn Russell were unavailable. However, they will be back against Australia at BT Murrayfield a week on Sunday. Townsend has had to field a team of only Scotland-based players, with the likes of Rob Harley of Glasgow Warriors drafted into the second row for his first international outing in five years. The head coach also revealed Richie Gray didn’t want to accept a call-up. ‘Richie feels that he has had a lot of rugby, seven games in a row, and he didn’t feel he was in the right condition to be available for this game,’ said the Scotland head coach. ‘Around an international camp, Rob Harley is always very good at getting the detail right and knows how to train at a high level and how to help the team prepare.’ Townsend said the eight uncapped players know they could be retained for the next three games against Australia, world champions South Africa and Japan. ‘This is an opportunity for them and they have created it by the way they are playing but, obviously, there is going to be more competition next week for the Australia game,’ he said. ‘Tuesday’s training session was at such a high level. ‘That was great preparation for this weekend as our back line for the Tonga game was competing against a team that included Stuart Hogg, Duhan van der Merwe, Huw Jones and Chris Harris, who came up for our camp before returning to their clubs. It’s great to see that level of competition and quality.’

Scotland will have co-captains heading into the game, with Ali Price sharing the honour with Jamie Ritchie. Hogg will return as captain for the match against Australia. ‘The co-captaincy idea is something both Ali and Jamie will have had experience of at their clubs,’ said Townsend. ‘It is new for us at international level but we feel it is a good opportunity to enable this pair to get that leadership experience.’ Townsend has selected Blair Kinghorn, who normally plays on the wing or at full-back, at ten after he impressed for Edinburgh in that position. Russell will start with Adam Hastings on the bench against the Wallabies. ‘It is a chance for Blair to get a further game in that position so he can learn and improve,’ said Townsend. ‘It’s great that he’s at ten for us and I’m looking forward to seeing him play there.’ Townsend, meanwhile, revealed that former Scotland captain Fraser Brown would miss the four upcoming Tests because of a leg injury and it was touch and go whether centre Mark Bennett and the uncapped flanker Rory Darge would be available.