Glasgow prop Nathan McBeth is set to make his first Guinness 6 Nations start after head coach Gregor Townsend made four changes to his pack ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown with England at Murrayfield.
Hooker Euan Ashman, loosehead Pierre Schoeman, second-rower Grant Gilchrist and back-rower Matt Fagerson were all dropped from the side that suffered a disastrous 18-15 defeat to Italy last weekend.
The experienced quartet were replaced in the XV by George Turner, Macbeth, Gregor Brown and Jamie Ritchie.
Townsend continues to rely on the same backline he had at Rome, meaning there is no place in the XV for the high-profile back three trio of Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham and Duan van der Merwe.
Winger Graham is on the bench as part of the 5-3 split, while the other two players are once again left out of the squad completely.
The absence of Ashman, Schoeman and Gilchrist means there are surprisingly no Edinburgh players in the starting XI.
Townsend insisted he would not allow continued scrutiny of his position as Scotland’s head coach to distract him from the task of reclaiming the Calcutta Cup, which takes place on Saturday.
The 52-year-old has been the subject of intense criticism following last Saturday’s disastrous 18-15 defeat to Italy in the opening game of the Guinness Six Nations, with calls for him to resign or be sacked.
Townsend, who dismissed the idea of resigning in his post-match press conference in Rome, said on Thursday the backlash had not affected his focus ahead of Saturday’s match against England at Murrayfield.
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James Cole looks ahead to the Calcutta Cup Six Nations clash between England and Scotland
“To be honest, it’s a very busy job and days like this are the only time I have to go through it,” Townsend told the media in Edinburgh.
“You spend all day reflecting on what you could have done better, going into selection, going into training, that’s part of the job and part of losing.
“The feeling of losing is worse than the distraction of when people are giving their opinion on the group and me as a coach.
“If we eliminate Tonga (56-0 win), the last two games against Italy and Argentina were disappointing, it will give us an opportunity to criticize the team and criticize the coach, which is understandable.”
“It’s not good enough from our point of view, but we’re very disappointed that we didn’t win those games and we’re working to rectify that.”
Scotland national team plays against England
Starting XV: 15 Tom Jordan, 14 Kyle Stein, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 11 Jamie Dobbie, 10 Finn Russell (vice-captain), 9 Ben White, 1 Nathan McBeth, 2 George Turner, 3 Xander Fagerson, 4 Gregor Brown, 5 Scott Cummings, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 7 Rory Darge. (vice-captain), 8 Jack Dempsey.
Substitutes: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Pierre Schumann, 18 Elliott Miller Mills, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 George Horne, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Darcy Graham.
Scotland’s 2026 Six Nations fixtures
always UK and Ireland
Italy 18-15 Scotland (Saturday 7th February) – Stadio Olimpico, Romehus England (Saturday 14th February) – Edinburgh, Murrayfield (4.40pm) vs Wales (Saturday 21st February) – Cardiff, Principality Stadium (4.40pm) vs France (Saturday 7th March) – Edinburgh, Murrayfield (2.10pm) vs Ireland (Saturday 14 March) – Aviva Stadium, Dublin (2.10pm)
