Townsend calls for Kinghorn and Van der Merwe to show ‘huge determination’ against Wales

Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe have been restored to Scotland’s starting XV for Saturday’s Six Nations meeting with Wales in Cardiff

Gregor Townsend expects Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe to be fuelled by “huge determination” against Wales after they were restored to Scotland’s starting XV for Saturday’s Six Nations meeting in Cardiff.

The British & Irish Lions duo were high-profile omissions from the 23 for the first two championship matches against Italy and England amid question marks about their form. The Toulouse back Kinghorn will start at full-back in place of Tom Jordan, who drops to the bench, while Van der Merwe, Scotland’s record try-scorer, returns at wing to take over from Jamie Dobie, who is out due to injury.

“Blair was back playing on Sunday night for Toulouse so it’s good to get an outlet when you’ve not been selected,” said the head coach after naming his squad to face Wales. “He played really well in that game and he’s recovered quickly. Duhan’s trained really well and very much been part of our squad, so there’ll be a freshness around both of them coming back in and huge determination to play well.

“Like any player, you want to be part of the squad and for those players that have been in our squad for a few years, it’ll be tough for them to take. But they’ve backed the team and they understand the reasons why we had different selections going into our opening two games. And now they have an opportunity to represent their country again.”

There are three further changes to the Scotland XV that started t the 31-20 victory over England last weekend, all of them in the pack. Dave Cherry replaces George Turner at hooker, with the latter dropping to the bench.

Back-rowers Jamie Ritchie and Jack Dempsey miss out through injury, with Matt Fagerson coming in at No 8 and the versatile Gregor Brown, who started in the second row last weekend, moving to blindside flanker. Max Williamson comes in to take Brown’s place in the second row.

Scotland, who have been training in Spain this week, are favourites to defeat an ailing Wales side who have lost heavily to France and England in their opening two matches. “I’m sure last week a lot of people thought England were clear favourites [against Scotland], so the game is not about predictions and previous form,” said Townsend. “It’s a lot about what you do in those 80 minutes, and we’ve got to make sure that we get our game out.”

For Wales, Gabriel Hamer-Webb will make his debut, the Leicester wing one of four changes from the side beaten heavily by France last Sunday as Steve Tandy’s side seek to end a sorry run of 13 straight Six Nations defeats.

The Bath-born Hamer-Webb, who represented England Under-20s in the Six Nations, has made eight appearances for Leicester since moving from Cardiff last summer. The 25-year-old qualifies for Wales through his Cardiff-born mother.

Tandy said: “Gabe has really impressed me in the way he’s attacked training, the way he’s learnt, the way he’s adapted and the way he’s just settled into the squad. His training efforts have been outstanding. Then when you dig into his background at Leicester, even when he wasn’t in the team, everyone said he was an amazing team player.

“He also kept pushing, he never gave up and then when he had his Leicester opportunity he took it with two hands, and now this opportunity has come up and it’s thoroughly deserved.”

Hamer-Webb takes over from the Scarlets wing Ellis Mee and Sam Costelow replaces Dan Edwards at outside-half. Costelow has not played for Wales since the defeat by Japan at Kitakyushu in July.

Wales: L Rees-Zammit (Bristol), G Hamer-Webb (Leicester), E James, J Hawkins (both Scarlets), J Adams (Cardiff), S Costelow (Scarlets), T Williams (Gloucester); R Carre (Saracens), D Lake (Ospreys, capt), T Francis (Provence), D Jenkins (Exeter), B Carter (Dragons), T Plumtree (Scarlets), A Mann (Cardiff), A Wainwright (Dragons).

Replacements: R Elias (Scarlets), N Smith (Leicester), A Griffin (Bath), F Thomas (Gloucester), J Botham (Cardiff), K Hardy (Ospreys), J Evans, B Murray (Scarlets).

Scotland: B Kinghorn (Toulouse), K Steyn (Glasgow), H Jones (Glasgow), S Tuipulotu (Glasgow), D van der Merwe (Edinburgh), F Russell (Bath), B White (Toulon); N McBeth (Glasgow), D Cherry (Vannes), Z Fagerson (Glasgow), M Williamson (Glasgow), S Cummings (Glasgow), G Brown (Glasgow), R Darge (Glasgow), M Fagerson (Glasgow).

Replacements: G Turner (Harlequins), P Schoeman (Edinburgh), E Millar Mills (Northampton), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh), J Bayliss (Bath), G Horne (Glasgow), T Jordan (Bristol), D Graham (Edinburgh).

There are two changes in the pack with Ben Carter preferred to Adam Beard in the second row and Taine Plumtree filling the blindside flanker spot. Aaron Wainwright moves back to No 8, where he lined up for the opening defeat by England, and Olly Cracknell drops out.

Freddie Thomas, James Botham and Blair Murray are named on the bench for the first time in this Six Nations campaign. Tandy said: “We feel this is the best team to take on Scotland and with a six-day turnaround you want some freshness as well going into the game. It’s our third game of the championship. We want to build on our performance. We want to see more consistent moments and back-to-back moments, which we feel if we get we’ll be closer to getting the outcome we want from games.”

Wales, who have lost 23 out of their previous 25 Tests, have not won a Six Nations home game since beating Scotland in February 2022. Scotland arrive in Cardiff buoyed by a 31-20 Calcutta Cup victory over England that saw them bounce from their opening championship defeat by Italy.