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Scotland confirm three changes for Saturday's clash with France
Gregor Townsend has confirmed a Scotland XV to host France this Saturday at Murrayfield that has three changes from last Saturday’s opening-round Guinness Six Nations win in Cardiff.
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The Scots held off a second-half Welsh fightback to win 27-26, but their team to take on the French at Murrayfield now contains three alterations to the pack.
Two had been envisaged since last Saturday as the respective bicep and shoulder injuries sustained by lock Richie Gray and blindside Luke Crosbie versus Wales ruled them out for the remainder of the championship.
Gray’s spot in the engine room has been filled by the return of Grant Gilchrist following his suspension, while the vacancy left by Crosbie has resulted in Matt Fagerson switching from No8 to No6 and Jack Dempsey getting promoted from the Principality Stadium bench to start at No8.
The third change to the Scotland side is also at back row as co-captain Rory Darge has finally pitched up fit following his recent knee problems and he has taken the place at openside of Jamie Ritchie, who drops out of the matchday 23.
The remainder of Townsend’s starting selection is as it was in Wales, and the only alteration to his bench sees Andy Christie included following the promotion of Dempsey to start.
France, meanwhile, have named a starting XV showing two changes following their round-one loss at home to Ireland.
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With Paul Willemse red-carded during that Stade Velodrome loss and subsequently suspended, his place at second row has gone to Cameron Woki who was promoted from the bench. Alexandre Roumat has filled the vacancy left by Woki among the replacements.
The second starting line-up change is also a bench promotion with Louis Bielle-Biarrey taking over the left wing spot from the dropped Yoram Moefana, who has been named as their 23rd man.
Your Scotland side for Round 2? of @SixNationsRugby.
Read more: https://t.co/t7chi9sUss pic.twitter.com/tDaYLG1Txp
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 8, 2024
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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