Zander Fagerson will make his first appearance in more than two months when he starts for Scotland in Saturday’s Six Nations match at home to Wales.
In the only change to the XV that began last weekend’s victory away to England, the Glasgow prop will replace WP Nel in the number three jersey after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained at the start of December.
Fagerson has been in full training for the past two-and-a-half weeks and management are confident that, despite his lack of recent game time, he is equipped to start against the Welsh.
Nel, the 36-year-old Edinburgh prop who started at Twickenham, drops to the bench, with Simon Berghan – who was among the replacements last weekend – out of the 23-man squad altogether.
There is still no place in the matchday pool for Edinburgh flanker Hamish Watson, who is working his way back into contention following recent issues with concussion.
Gregor Townsend’s relative consistency of selection is in contrast to his Wales counterpart Warren Gatland, who has made five changes from the team that started last weekend’s defeat to Ireland.
The Scots are bidding to kick off a campaign with back-to-back victories for the first time since the inception of the Six Nations in 2000. The last time they achieved the feat was in the Five Nations in 1996.
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 9, 2023
Scotland team to play Wales in Six Nations
Forwards: 1 Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby), 2 George Turner (Glasgow Warriors), 3 Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), 4 Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), 5 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby), 6 Jamie Ritchie (CAPTAIN, Edinburgh Rugby), 7 Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh Rugby), 8 Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors)
Backs: 9 Ben White (London Irish), 10 Finn Russell (Racing 92), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh Rugby), 12 Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors), 13 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors), 14 Kyle Steyn (Glasgow Warriors), 15 Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs)
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), 17 Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors), 18 WP Nel (Edinburgh Rugby), 19 Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs), 20 Jack Dempsey (Glasgow Warriors), 21 George Horne (Glasgow Warriors), 22 Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby), 23 Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby)