Nine Warriors named in Scotland starting XV

Gregor Townsend has named nine Warriors in his starting XV to play Russia in the Rugby World Cup Pool A match at the Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa this Wednesday.

Fraser Brown, Scott Cummings, Zander Fagerson, Adam Hastings, George Horne and Ryan Wilson were all on the bench for the win against Samoa and have been promoted to the starting team for Scotland’s penultimate pool match in Japan.

Pete Horne and George Turner get their first chance to make a mark on this year’s tournament, while Tommy Seymour comes in from outside the match-day 23 that faced the Pacific Islanders last week.

George Horne and Adam Hastings will start together for the first time since their emphatic performance in defeat of Argentina in Resistencia last summer (44-15).

George’s elder brother Pete and Fraser Brown also started that day, with Brown – normally a hooker – operating on the openside of the scrum, as he will against ‘the Bears’ in two days’ time and where he has featured in five of his 44 caps to date.

Scotland team to play Russia at the Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Rugby World Cup 2019, Wednesday 9 October (kick-off 8.15am BST, 4.15pm local time) – live on ITV/STV:

1. Gordon Reid (Ayrshire Bulls) – 39 caps

2. George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 8 caps

3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 23 caps

4. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps

5. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 21 caps

6. John Barclay CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) – 75 caps

7. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 44 caps

8. Ryan Wilson VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 47 caps

9. George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 8 caps

10. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 15 caps

11. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 9 caps

12. Pete Horne VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 43 caps