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Five-strong Scotland revamp includes changing half of their pack
By Liam Heagney
Gregor Townsend has shaken up his Scotland team in the hope of levelling their Test series with Argentina, the head coach making five changes – four in the pack – to his starting XV. The shake-up following last weekend’s series-opening defeat includes a 50th appearance for the fit-again openside Hamish Watson, who takes over from the excluded Luke Crosbie in a back row where Rory Darge, a sub last week, comes in for Magnus Bradbury.
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Elsewhere in the pack, hooker Dave Cherry and lock Sam Skinner are chosen at the expense of George Turner and Jonny Gray, while Ali Price loses out at scrum-half to Ben White who is making his first Test start.
On the bench, the uncapped Kyle Rowe could make his first Test appearance for Scotland. Back-rower Andy Christie is also included in the reserves, as are Jamie Bhatti and Scott Cummings. Last week Scotland – beaten 26-18 – failed to recover from a poor first half which saw them restricted to kicking two penalties, struggling to get into the opposition half with ball in hand, and conceding two late tries.
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Townsend said: “It’s a cup semi-final and we have got to make sure we put our game out there. We didn’t do that at the weekend. We were, I suppose, frustrated with the performance and the errors that we made but frustrated with the game, it became stop-start.
“It was the lowest ball-in-play time we have ever had as a team but if that happens at the weekend we have got to make sure that, when the ball is in play, for either team, we play much better.
“We know this tour is about a number of things: it’s about seeing a group of players coming together for four weeks and seeing how that environment is; it’s about giving players opportunities, but it is about winning. It’s about winning a Test series and we have made it more difficult for ourselves now not winning the first Test. But all of our efforts are getting put into winning this weekend.”
SCOTLAND (vs Argentina, Saturday)
15. Rory Hutchinson – Northampton Saints – 6 caps
14. Darcy Graham – Edinburgh Rugby – 28 caps
13. Mark Bennett – Edinburgh Rugby – 25 caps
12. Sam Johnson – Glasgow Warriors – 25 caps
11. Duhan van der Merwe – Worcester Warriors – 17 caps
10. Blair Kinghorn – Edinburgh Rugby – 32 caps
9. Ben White – London Irish – 5 caps
1. Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby- 10 caps
2. Dave Cherry – Edinburgh Rugby – 5 caps
3. Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors – 48 caps
4. Sam Skinner – Edinburgh Rugby – 21 caps
5. Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby – (Captain) – 54 caps
6. Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors – 5 caps
7. Hamish Watson – Edinburgh Rugby (Vice-Captain) – 49 caps
8. Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors – 22 caps
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Replacements:
16. George Turner – Glasgow Warriors – 26 caps
17. Jamie Bhatti – Glasgow Warriors – 22 caps
18. Javan Sebastian – Scarlets – 2 caps
19. Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors – 21 caps
20. Andy Christie – Saracens – 1 cap
21. Ali Price – Glasgow Warriors – 52 caps
22. Ross Thompson – Glasgow Warriors – 1 cap
23. Kyle Rowe – London Irish – uncapped
