Scotland team for Wales revealed as Duhan van der Merwe and Blair Kinghorn return from Six Nations cold

Neither has been involved in the campaign thus far but the pair will start on Saturday in a reshaped back three.

Townsend, the Scotland head coach, has made five personnel changes to his starting XV, three of them forced by injury.

Kinghorn takes over from Tom Jordan at full-back, with the versatile Bristol Bears player dropping to the bench. Kinghorn played for Toulouse against Stade Francais last weekend after being left out of the Scotland squad which beat England 31-20 at Murrayfield to reclaim the Calcutta Cup.

Also coming in from the cold is van der Merwe who has been selected on the left wing, replacing the injured Jamie Dobie. Van der Merwe is Scotland’s leading men’s try-scorer of all time but was left out of the opening two Six Nations games. He scored two tries on Scotland’s last visit to Cardiff in 2024 in a 27-26 victory.

There are three changes in the pack, including a start for Dave Cherry. The Vannes man is preferred to George Turner as the starting hooker, with Turner having to be content with a place on the bench.

Injuries in the back row have meant a reshuffle and Matt Fagerson is promoted from the bench. The Glasgow Warriors player comes in at No 8 instead of Jack Dempsey who injured his bicep against England and will miss the remainder of the championship.

Gregor Brown moves from the second row to six, taking the place of Jamie Ritchie who hurt his knee in the Calcutta Cup and will also miss the rest of the Six Nations. In Brown’s place comes his Glasgow Warriors team-mate, Max Williamson, for his first start in the championship.

Changes to the Scotland bench

Townsend has freshened up his bench and there is a recall for Grant Gilchrist as second-row cover. The Edinburgh stalwart started Scotland’s first game of the tournament, against Italy, but dropped out after the disappointing 18-15 defeat in Rome.

He is joined by Bath’s Josh Bayliss who is set to make his first appearance of this season’s Six Nations.

Townsend has stuck with a 5-3 split of forwards and backs on the bench but there is no place for Adam Hastings who has been a replacement in both of Scotland’s opening games. The backs on the bench are Jordan, George Horne and Darcy Graham.

Wales have also named their team and will give a debut to Leicester wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

His inclusion is one of four changes from the side beaten heavily by France last weekend as Wales seek to end a sorry run of 13 straight Six Nations defeats.

Bath-born Hamer-Webb, who represented England Under-20s in the U20 Six Nations, has made eight appearances for Leicester since moving from Cardiff last summer. The 25-year-old qualifies for Wales through his Cardiff-born mother. He takes over from Scarlets wing Ellis Mee.

There is also a switch at 10, with Sam Costelow replacing Dan Edwards at outside-half. Scarlets fly-half Costelow has not played for Wales since the defeat to Japan at Kitakyushu in July.

There are two changes in the pack with Ben Carter preferred to Adam Beard in the second row and Taine Plumtree filling the blindside flanker spot. Aaron Wainwright moves back to No 8, where he lined up for the opening defeat to England, and Olly Cracknell drops out.

Freddie Thomas, James Botham and Blair Murray are named on the bench for the first time in this Six Nations campaign.

Wales, who have lost 23 out of their previous 25 Tests, have not won a Six Nations home game since beating Scotland in February 2022.

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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