(Reuters) – Scotland made wholesale changes to their team for Saturday’s test against Portugal with Stafford McDowall to captain the side, which has two new caps, and fullback Tom Jordan the only player from last week’s starting lineup to keep his place.
Winger Darcy Graham returns to side for the match at Murrayfield after concussion ruled him out of their clash against South Africa last week.
He scored four tries in the 57-17 win over Fiji at Murrayfield at the start of the month, where he briefly equalled the record for the most tries for Scotland only to see Duhan van der Merwe reclaim the mark later in the game.
Now he has a chance to overtake the 29-try haul as Van der Merwe is one of the 14 players making way after Scotland lost 32-15 to South Africa last Sunday.
The 21-year-old Alex Samuel is set for a first Scotland cap after being named in the second row while Ben Muncaster will debut at flank.
Freddy Douglas could make his Scotland debut from the bench, and at 19 years old would become Scotland’s youngest debutant since Donald White in 1963. The powerful back-rower represented Scotland at the Under-20 World Cup earlier this year.
It will be McDowall’s second match as captain after leading the side to a runaway 73-12 win over Canada in Ottawa in July.
Kyle Rowe, who injured a hamstring against Fiji, is back on the bench for the meeting with Portugal.
Team: 15-Tom Jordan, 14-Darcy Graham, 13-Rory Hutchinson, 12-Stafford McDowall (capt.), 11-Arron Reed, 10-Adam Hastings, 9-George Horne, 8-Josh Bayliss, 7-Ben Muncaster, 6-Luke Crosbie, 5-Alex Samuel, 4-Alex Craig, 3-Will Hurd, 2-Patrick Harrison, 1-Jamie Bhatti
Replacements: 16-Johnny Matthews, 17-Rory Sutherland, 18-Elliot Millar Mills, 19-Ewan Johnson, 20-Freddy Douglas, 21-Jamie Dobie, 22-Matt Currie, 23-Kyle Rowe.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)
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