Six Nations returnees Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe made aware of their Scotland challenge

Neither featured in the first two rounds of the championship as Gregor Townsend’s side lost to Italy in Rome then bounced back with a comprehensive win over England at Murrayfield.

Townsend selected Tom Jordan at full-back for the first two games of the campaign but has dropped the Bristol Bears man to the bench for Cardiff, with Kinghorn coming in from the cold.

Van der Merwe has been given the nod to replace the injured Jamie Dobie on the left wing, with Darcy Graham having to be content with a place among the replacements.

Five personnel changes

Townsend said it was now up to the recalled pair to show they deserve their chance as Scotland look to build on last week’s highly impressive victory in the Calcutta Cup by beating a troubled Welsh side. Another win would keep the Scots’ title hopes alive going into the final two matches, against France at home and Ireland away.

“I hope that they realise what's required now that they've been out of the team and that they're desperate to not be in this situation again,” said the head coach, speaking from the squad’s training camp on the east coast of Spain.

“There's obviously very good competition around their back three right now. And they're aware of that because they didn't get selected in the first two games. But they're also aware that they'll have to play well to be in the mix for the French game.

“Like any player, you want to be part of the squad and for those players who have been in our squad for a few years, it'll be tough for them to take, but they back the team, they understand the reasons why we had different selections going into our opening two games and now they have an opportunity to represent their country again.

“Tom Jordan's played really well the first two games. We’ve moved Tom to the bench so he could focus on covering more of the midfield this week and Darcy to cover the back three. We didn't feel Tom doing that from a starting position would put him in the best position during the training week to also run the 10 and 12.

“We know with Tom coming off the bench he can make a big impact, but it's about the starters right now and Blair and Duhan coming in can play their best rugby and help us win.”

Kinghorn and van der Merwe had previously been first picks for Scotland and were selected by the British and Irish Lions for the summer tour, with Kinghorn part of the Test side which won the series against Australia.

Their form shaded when they returned, with Kinghorn having little down time before resuming club duties with Toulouse. Van der Merwe has been part of a struggling Edinburgh team this season and has also had to cope with hip and ankle injuries.

Townsend has also made three personnel changes to his pack for the game on Saturday, with Dave Cherry replacing the benched George Turner as starting hooker, Matt Fagerson coming in at No 8 for the injured Jack Dempsey and Max Williamson selected in the second row. Williamson will be making his first start in the Six Nations and his inclusion sees Gregor Brown move from lock to the back row in place of Jamie Ritchie who suffered a knee injury against England.

Townsend said it had always been in his mind to freshen up the team for Wales, the third of three games on consecutive Saturdays for Scotland before the mid-championship break. Kinghorn was sent back to France last weekend to play for Toulouse and impressed the Scotland coach in the win over Stade Francais in Paris on Sunday.

Time to freshen up the team

“Blair played really well in that game and he's recovered quickly after an evening game,” said Townsend. “Duhan has played really well for Edinburgh in the lead up to November, he's very much part of our squad. So there'll be a freshness around both of them coming back in and a huge determination to play well.

“With Jamie [Dobie] being injured, we had to make a change in the back three. Obviously, with the two [injured] guys in the back row, we had to change things. But it was settled in our minds that by game three, whether you mix up the starters on the bench to bring you new energy or whether you bring other players on the squad, I think there will be a factor in the game.”

Van der Merwe is Scotland’s all-time leading men’s try-scorer and Townsend wants him to get on the ball as much as possible, which hasn’t always been the case this season, most notably with Edinburgh.

“We expect him to play his best rugby,” said the coach. “We want to see Duhan’s strength which is very much on the ball-carrying. His work-rate has always been really good at international level. He's been a strong defender and has been our defence leadership group in the past.

“He's worked really hard on the aerial side of the game which all our back three players now know is massively important. We've got to make sure that Duhan gets opportunities to run. When he's done that in the past for us he's played really well.”

Scotland are second in the Six Nations standings on six points, four behind leaders France, going into round three. Wales are bottom having lost heavily to England and France.

Wales v Scotland teams

Wales: 15. L Rees-Zammit (Bristol); 14. G Hamer-Webb (Leicester), 13. E James, 12. J Hawkins (both Scarlets), 11. J Adams (Cardiff); 10. S Costelow (Scarlets), 9. T Williams (Gloucester); 1. R Carre (Saracens), 2. D Lake (Ospreys, capt), 3. T Francis (Provence), 4. D Jenkins (Exeter), 5. B Carter (Dragons), 6. T Plumtree (Scarlets), 7. A Mann (Cardiff), 8. A Wainwright (Dragons).

Replacements: 16. R Elias (Scarlets), 17. N Smith (Leicester), 18. A Griffin (Bath), 19. F Thomas (Gloucester), 20. J Botham (Cardiff), 21. K Hardy (Ospreys), 22. J Evans, 23. B Murray (Scarlets).

Scotland: 15. Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse); 14. Kyle Steyn (Glasgow), 13. Huw Jones (Glasgow), 12. Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow; capt), 11. Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh); 10. Finn Russell (Bath; vice-capt), 9. Ben White (Toulon); 1. Nathan McBeth (Glasgow), 2. Dave Cherry (Vannes), 3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow), 4. Max Williamson (Glasgow), 5. Scott Cummings (Glasgow), 6. Gregor Brown (Glasgow), 7. Rory Darge (Glasgow; vice-capt), 8. Matt Fagerson (Glasgow).

Replacements: 16. George Turner (Harlequins), 17. Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh), 18. Elliot Millar Mills (Northampton), 19. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), 20. Josh Bayliss (Bath), 21. George Horne (Glasgow), 22. Tom Jordan (Bristol), 23. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh).

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