Scotland team to play Wales: Darcy Graham returns & big decision made on replacements for Six Nations clash

The Scotland team to face Wales in round four of the 2025 Six Nations championship at Murrayfield has been named with Darcy Graham returning to the starting XV.

The winger was stretchered off the pitch in their last home outing which came against Ireland in round two. He has now recovered from the concussion he received after clashing heads with teammate Finn Russell and returns to the starting line-up at the expense of Kyle Rowe who drops to the bench.

That is the only change from the side that lined up against England at Twickenham with the other 14 players remaining the same. However, head coach Gregor Townsend has made a big call on amongst the replacements by switching from a six-two forwards and backs split to a five-three.

He explained: “We have changed to a 5-3 split and we've gone 6-2 the last couple of games. We feel this will be an open game, potentially a chance of getting those guys off the bench to make a real impact in the backs but also a reward for the 23 and how they played down at Twickenham.”

On Graham’s return, Townsend added: “He had trained with us before the England game. We decided that was a game too early for him and we made sure he didn't do contact that week but he's now been doing full contact for the last 10 days and he was in great form before his injury and we expect him to be in similar form. He's trained really well.”

Here is the Scotland starting XV and subs to face Wales at Murrayfield this weekend:

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

Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Gregor Brown, Matt Fagerson, George Horne, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Rowe.

Here is the Wales team to face Scotland:

Positives to take from England match despite losing Calcutta Cup

It was a hugely disappointing defeat at Twickenham in round three and although Scotland did lack a cutting edge at times and made some basic errors, overall there was still a lot to be positive about. Townsend is hoping they can carry much of that performance level into the match against Wales at Murrayfield.

He said: “Performance wise it was very good. We created opportunities, we did score three tries and we know we could have and should have scored more.

“You've got to look forward. A lot of what we did that day and also in the build-up to that game is what we've been replicating this week but also we've looked at areas that we could improve. The opportunities we created, how we could have either got penalties and got scores that way or got more tries.”

Doddie Weir Cup on the line at Murrayfield this Six Nations weekend

Scotland and Wales will be playing for the Doddie Weir Cup this weekend which was established in 2018 to support the former Scotland player’s MND charity, the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation. It is now contested whenever Scotland play Wales and the Welsh have won it four times to Scotland’s three.

“We pass Doddie's statue when we come into the stadium for home games,” said Townsend. “I'm sure there'll be a lot of our supporters wearing his foundation's tartan.

“The stories over the decades of Wales supporters coming up in their thousands to Scotland and spending time not just here in Edinburgh but also around the clubs right throughout Scotland and similar when we play down in Cardiff. It's a friendly atmosphere before the game, on the field you'll have two very competitive teams playing for a trophy that they both want to win.”

Your next read: How Scotland can still win the 2025 Six Nations - every result they need to lift trophy