Scotland vs South Africa: Gregor Townsend makes six changes for Springboks autumn international

Huw Jones returns to outside centre while Townsend makes five changes to the pack

Huw Jones returns to the Scotland line-up for their meeting against the Springboks (Reuters)

Gregor Townsend believes South Africa will threaten Scotland this Saturday in more ways than one as they look to get away from the physical reputation that pigeon-holed their play in recent years.

Townsend expects the Springboks to attack his side with their usual power-running and defensive brutality, but he also believes that under Rassie Erasmus they are starting to force a new reputation for expansive play and counter-attacking – something that the Scots have gone through themselves.

With that in mind, Townsend has made six changes to the squad that thrashed Fiji last weekend, with five of those coming in the pack in an effort to match South Africa’s physical presence and ball-playing ability, and with the visitors one-and-one on their autumn tour following defeat by England and victory over France, he expects BT Murrayfield to witness a fierce encounter on Saturday evening.

“South Africa have made a lot of improvements over the last three or four months, beating the All Blacks in New Zealand and putting in an 80-minute performance to defeat France in Paris, which underlines their quality,” Townsend said.

“Their traditional strength has always been their physicality and this remains a key point of difference for them. We expect them to be confrontational and powerful in their ball carrying, their defence and also at set-piece time. It will be a great challenge for our forward pack in particular.

“South Africa have always had a smart kicking game with an excellent chase, but what we’ve seen over the past few months is an ambition to move the ball from counter attack and a push to get their forwards passing the ball more.

“Our defence will have to be strong to nullify this ambitious attacking game plan.

“We’re looking forward to playing one of the best teams in the world and playing once more in front of a sell-out crowd at BT Murrayfield.”

Stuart Hogg announced this week that he is joining Exeter Chiefs in the summer (Action Images via Reuters)

Townsend makes just one change to his back line as Huw Jones returns to outside centre after missing the 54-17 victory over Fiji last weekend, with the rest of the changes coming in the pack. Two of those are in the front row where Gordon Reid and Stuart McInally are brought in at the expense of Allan Dell and Fraser Brown, who both drop to the bench, while Sam Skinner is moved from lock to blindside flanker after making his international debut last Saturday.

Skinner’s move makes space for Jonny Gray to return to the starting line-up alongside Ben Toolis, who was not part of the squad that beat Fiji, while Ryan Wilson moves to No 8 and Hamish Watson is preferred at openside flanker over Jamie Ritchie.

Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell continue at half-back, the former captaining the side, with Pete Horne alongside Jones in the centre and Sean Mailtland, Tommy Seymour and Exeter Chiefs-bound Stuart Hogg making up the back three, with Hogg this week confirming his Glasgow Warriors exit at the end of the season.

Scotland team to face South Africa

Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Pete Horne, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw; Gordon Reid, Stuart McInally, WP Nel; Ben Toolis, Jonny Gray; Sam Skinner, Hamish Watson, Ryan Wilson.

Replacements: Fraser Brown, Allan Dell, Simon Berghan, Josh Strauss, Jamie Ritchie, Ali Price, Adam Hastings, Chris Harris.