Finn Russell absent as Scotland name team to play Argentina in Nations Championship opener

The stand-off has been struggling with a calf injury that caused him to miss the final few games of the domestic season with Bath. With Russell out, Scotland will start with Bristol’s Tom Jordan at 10 for the game in Cordoba.

The versatile Jordan has also featured at full-back and centre for Scotland but has played most of his club rugby this season at fly-half. The combative former Glasgow Warriors player will win his 18th cap and will have Toulon scrum-half Ben White alongside him.

It’s a new dawn for international rugby with the Nations Championship adding a structured format to the summer and autumn Test windows where the Six Nations teams traditionally take on rivals from the Southern Hemisphere. Results in the new competition will count toward final north and south league tables. The winners will play off for a new trophy, while the other sides contest the minor places.

Head coach Gregor Townsend has selected almost a full-strength squad for the summer leg of the tournament which opens in Argentina then continues for Scotland with a match against South Africa in Pretoria on July 11 and a home game versus Fiji on July 18.

Sione Tuipulotu will captain Scotland and be partnered at centre by Rory Hutchinson, who last month helped Northampton Saints win the Gallagher Prem title. The wing berths are filled by Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie, with their Glasgow Warriors team-mate Kyle Rowe at full-back. Blair Kinghorn was excused from tour duties due to his participation in the French Top 14 final with Toulouse.

Up front, another Northampton title winner, Elliot Millar Mills, has been given the nod at tighthead prop ahead of Zander Fagerson who is named on the bench. Pierre Schoeman is at loosehead, with Ewan Ashman at hooker. Gregor Hiddleston is in line to make his Scotland debut after being selected as replacement hooker.

The game marks a significant milestone for both Schoeman and lock forward Scott Cumming who will both win their 50th caps. It will be Cummings’ first international appearance since recovering from a calf injury picked up in the Six Nations win over France in early March.

Cummings is joined in the second row by Jonny Gray who is the most experienced member of the starting XV on 81 caps. It will be Gray’s first Scotland appearance since the 2025 Six Nations.

The back row is the now familiar combination of Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey.

Joining Hiddleston and Zander Fagerson on the replacements bench are tighthead Rory Sutherland, fellow Warriors forwards Alex Samuel and Gregor Brown, Glasgow scrum-half George Horne, Saracens stand-off Fergus Burke and Edinburgh winger Darcy Graham.

The match at Estadio Mario Kempes on Saturday kicks off at 8.10pm BST and will be shown live on ITV4.

Scotland: 15 Kyle Rowe; 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (capt), 11 Jamie Dobie; 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Ben White; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 4 Jonny Gray, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Jack Dempsey.

Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Alex Samuel, 20 Gregor Brown, 21, George Horne, 22 Fergus Burke, 23 Darcy Graham.