Six Nations 2018: Scotland stick with Finn Russell but Gregor Townsend recalls fit-again WP Nel and Tim Swinson

Nel and Swinson return to the replacements' bench but Gregor Townsend sticks with the same starting XV that beat France for the visit of England at Murrayfield

Finn Russell will start Scotland's Six Nations clash with England this weekend (Getty)

Gregor Townsend has kept faith with out-of-form fly-half Finn Russell after naming an unchanged starting XV for Scotland’s Calcutta Cup clash with England this weekend, despite replacing in the crucial late stages of the victory over France 10 days ago.

The Glasgow Warriors stand-off has not made the best of starts to the Six Nations championship, and Townsend elected to replace the 25-year-old with scrum-half Ali Price with 16 minutes remaining in the 32-26 victory over France in round two, resulting in British and Irish Lion Greig Laidlaw switching to the No 10 role.

But despite his inconsistency against Les Bleus – kicking a ball dead from a penalty and also striking straight into touch to cost his side precious territory – Townsend has shown faith in the stand-off by retaining him in an unchanged start XV that sees Laidlaw continue at scrum-half ahead of Price.

"The players put a huge amount of effort into our win over France,” Townsend said. “They found a way to win and kept attacking the opposition up until the final whistle.”

Townsend has made changes to the replacements’ bench though, with the welcome return of tighthead prop WP Nel after he recovered from a broken arm and Tim Swinson back in the match-day squad after three months following hand surgery.

With unbeaten England heading north of the border filled with confidence after their 12-6 victory over Wales last time out, Townsend knows that his side cannot afford a repeat performance like the one they produced against Wales in the first round of this year’s championship – or last year when Scotland were on the receiving end of a 61-21 thumping by their rivals at Twickenham.

"England are the number two side in the world and have shown a very good level of consistency in the past couple of seasons,” Townsend added.

"Taking on England is going to be a huge challenge and we are well aware that only our very best will be good enough in this fixture."

WP Nel is in line to return for Scotland after recovering from a broken arm (Getty)

Glasgow centre Nick Grigg is also included among the replacements, having been rewarded for his man-of-the-match performance against the Cheetahs last Friday, while Sale Sharks wing Byron McGuigan remains absent through the hamstring injury that he suffered against Wales.

Meanwhile, Gloucester centre Matt Scott, who this week earned a recall to the international squad, has announced that he will leave the Cherry and Whites at the end of the season and return to his former club Edinburgh after the Premiership side failed to offer him a new contract.

Scott, who signed a two-year deal when he arrived at Kingsholm in the summer of 2016, scored 13 tries in 25 appearances during his debut season with Gloucester, and despite missing three months with an ankle injury this season, he has returned to form by scoring a try in each of Gloucester’s last four matches.


 Matt Scott will leave Gloucester at the end of the season 
 (Getty)

"Just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed my time so far at Gloucester and that I'm gutted it has come to an end so soon,” Scott wrote on Twitter. "Unfortunately there was no option for me to stay which was disappointing, but I'm looking forward to contribute in any way I can to an exciting couple of months for the club and end my two seasons here on a high!"

Scotland team to play England at Murrayfield on Saturday:

Team: Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Peter Horne (all Glasgow), Sean Maitland (Saracens); Finn Russell (Glasgow), Greig Laidlaw (Clermont); Gordon Reid (London Irish), Stuart McInally, Simon Berghan; Grant Gilchrist (all Edinburgh), Jonny Gray (Glasgow); Jonny Barclay (Scarlets), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow).

Replacements: Scott Lawson (Newcastle), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow), WP Nel (Edinburgh), Tim Swinson (Glasgow), David Denton (Worcester), Ali Price, Nick Grigg (both Glasgow), Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh).