Scotland make eight changes for Wallabies Test

Jonny Gray and Hamish Watson are back in the Scotland side to face Australia on Saturday, while Lee Jones also gets his chance after Gregor Townsend opted to make eight changes.

Lock Gray and back-row Watson will run out from the start against the Wallabies in Sydney as Townsend fields a new back three and front row following the win over Italy.

Jones comes in on the wing in place of Damien Hoyland five years after winning the last of his four caps.

Townsend said: “Australia are one of the best teams in the world, so this will be a much tougher challenge than our game last week. The Wallabies DNA is about moving the ball and they have always been one of the best attacking teams in the game.

“It’s a game that will challenge our players in defence but we’ll also have to be very accurate in attack and aim to out-work our opposition on Saturday. Playing in the afternoon will be fantastic, you don’t often get the chance to do that in the southern hemisphere, so we can’t wait to get out there and play.

“There are a few changes this week, as we planned to give a number of our squad the opportunity to play in the first two games of tour.

“It was great that we had a successful hit out against Italy with a few players getting valuable game time after returning from injury.

“We firmly believe that this 23-man squad can deliver on Saturday. It’s important that we take the game to Australia right from the start and are relentless in attack and defence for 80 minutes.”

Scotland team to play Australia: Greig Tonks, Lee Jones, Alex Dunbar, Duncan Taylor, Rory Hughes, Finn Russell, Ali Price; Gordon Reid, Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Ben Toolis, Jonny Gray, John Barclay, Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson.

Replacements: Ross Ford, Allan Dell, Willem Nel, Tim Swinson, Josh Strauss, Henry Pyrgos, Ruaridh Jackson, Matt Scott.