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Half-dozen changes for Scotland as they look for repeat French win
By Liam Heagney
Gregor Townsend has made six changes to his Scotland team as they look to go and do the warm-up double over Rugby World Cup hosts France. The Scots produced a stunning second-half comeback to turn a 3-21 half-time deficit into a rounding 25-21 victory despite the loss of the now-suspended tighthead Zander Fangerson to a red card.
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Scotland now head to Saint-Etienne for the third match of their Summer Nations Series and while France have made a whopping 13 changes and recalled stars such as Antoine Dupont, Townsend has limited his changes to a half-dozen.
Skipper James Ritchie returns to the back row as does Rory Darge, who captained the team in their opening Murrayfield win versus Italy. Matt Fagerson and Hamish Watson both miss out. WP Nel is the replacement for the suspended Zander Fagerson, while George Turner is chosen at hooker in place of Ewan Ashman.
In the back line, Ali Price is at scum-half for the injured Ben White while Kyle Steyn is named at right wing in place of Darcy Graham. On the bench, Townsend has opted for six/two forwards/backs split.
Scotland (vs France – Saturday, 8:05pm)
15. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) 45 caps
14. Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors) 11 caps
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 37 caps
12. Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) 17 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby) 29 caps
10. Finn Russell (Bath Rugby) – Vice-Captain – 70 caps
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) 62 caps
1. Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) 22 caps
2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 36 caps
3. WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby) 54 caps
4. Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 74 caps
5. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) – Vice-captain – 63 caps
6. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh Rugby) – Captain – 41 caps
7. Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors) 9 caps
8. Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps
Replacements:
16. Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby) 48 caps
17. Rory Sutherland (unattached) 24 caps
18. Javan Sebastian (Edinburgh Rugby) 4 caps
19. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) 27 caps
20. Sam Skinner (Edinburgh Rugby) 26 caps
21. Josh Bayliss (Bath Rugby) 4 caps
22. George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) 21 caps
23. Ollie Smith (Glasgow Warriors) 4 caps
