Scotland announce XV for England Six Nations test as Russell fitness question answered plus Graham replacement

The Scotland team to take on England in this weekend’s Six Nations match has been confirmed with vice captain Finn Russell set to start despite being an injury doubt.

The stand-off was replaced early in their second round match with Ireland after a nasty head collision with winger Darcy Graham. Russell initially passed his HIA but the Scotland coaching staff decided against bringing him back on due to concerns around delayed concussion symptoms while Graham was immediately taken to hospital.

The Edinburgh winger wont be involved on Saturday with Glasgow Warriors’ Kyle Rowe the man who will replace him in the starting XV. The other changes from the starting XV that lines up against Ireland sees Pierre Schoeman return at loose-head with Rory Sutherland dropping to the bench while Jamie Ritchie replaces Matt Fagerson at blind-side flanker.

Here is the starting team and replacements for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash:

1. Pierre Schoeman
2. Dave Cherry
3. Zander Fagerson
4. Jonny Gray
5. Grant Gilchrist
6. Jamie Ritchie
7. Rory Darge - vice captain
8. Jack Dempsey
9. Ben White
10. Finn Russell - vice captain
11. Duhan van der Merwe
12. Tom Jordan
13. Huw Jones
14. Kyle Rowe
15. Blair Kinghorn

Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Sam Skinner, Gregor Brown, Matt Fagerson, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowall

Speaking on the squad selection, head coach Gregor Townsend said: “They (Russell and Graham) have both been training really well, they’ve gone through the right protocols and they have passed every stage. Finn, we felt, was symptom free much earlier and didn’t have as big a head knock as Darcy did.

“Darcy is progressing really well, he’s had no symptoms now for a few days, he’s gone to the next stage of his training but we just felt this week was too early to do full contact so we’re giving him that extra week to recover. It’s a very similar 23 that we’ve had so far for the Six Nations and we feel the players have been working really hard in training.

“Yes, we had a better performance against Italy than Ireland but we believe in the group and they’ve got another opportunity this week to show exactly who we are in attack and defence. We know we’ll have to be showing who we are this week bringing out our best rugby on either side of the ball.”

Looking ahead to the match, Townsend added: “It means a huge amount. We know we play for a separate trophy and it’s the fixture that our supporters and our nation looks forward to more than nay other.

“It’s the middle game of the Six Nations, a game that we have to respond in terms of looking to get a win because we lost our last game. A lot of factors go into the motivation to have our best ever performance this weekend.

“They (England) have obviously played consistently well for a while. I think the summer tour last year in New Zealand they showed what a quality side they are and at the end of last year’s Six Nations, beating Ireland and pushing France close. Throughout November they were involved in some really tight fixtures against quality opposition and they started this season really well over in Dublin and a really good win against France so I’m sure they’ll be confident and they’re always a tough opponent for us, even more so when they’re playing at home.”

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