Ben White is back in the Scotland XV to face Georgia at Murrayfield on Saturday – just three weeks after fearing injury might rule him out of the World Cup.
The scrum-half limped off in clear distress in the first half of the home win over France earlier this month and looked exasperated as he made his way up the tunnel with his ankle heavily strapped. He missed the subsequent match away to France and later revealed that he was “really concerned” when the injury first happened.
However, White – Gregor Townsend’s first-choice scrum-half – has now been deemed fit enough to return to the number nine jersey for Scotland’s last warm-up match before heading to France for the World Cup at the start of September.
In a further boost for supporters, Edinburgh wing Duhan van der Merwe, who suffered a minor ankle injury in the last match in Saint-Etienne, is also fit enough to start against Georgia.
Despite Scotland’s first game of the tournament against South Africa being only three weeks away and the 33-man squad having been finalised, head coach Townsend has opted to send out a strong XV.
Ollie Smith, with five caps to his name, is the least experienced player in the team as he stands in for Blair Kinghorn at full-back, but the backline is otherwise arguably as strong as it could possibly be.
In the forward department, Glasgow prop Jamie Bhatti starts along with Edinburgh veteran WP Nel, with Pierre Schoeman rested and Zander Fagerson suspended. Richie Gray is another likely starter at the World Cup who has been given the weekend off, with Sam Skinner taking his place alongside Grant Gilchrist in the second row.
Dave Cherry starts ahead of George Turner and Ewan Ashman at hooker, while the back-row is comprised of captain Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey.
Springboks aiming to have 'two best teams in the world', says Esterhuizen
South Africa centre Andre Esterhuizen said that the Springboks are aiming to have "the two best teams in the world" ahead of their Autumn Nations Series clash against England.
The world champions were pushed all the way by Scotland in their narrow victory at Murrayfield on Sunday, though head coach Rassie Erasmus opted to rotate some key starting positions.
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit started on the bench, with the changes a common theme during Erasmus' seven-year tenure.
Their opening Autumn Nations Series victory also put them back on top of the world rankings after Ireland's first defeat in 19 home games by New Zealand on Friday.
"One of the good things is that everyone is getting game time now," Esterhuizen told the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
"It is also about looking forward, you've got to be able to spare all the guys for the next World Cup and build experience into it.
"The aim is to have the two best teams in the world, all in one squad.
"We want to make it second nature for people slotting in, so if someone steps in, they can just slot in and play the same if not better than the other player."
South Africa next face England, who are yet to pick up a win this autumn, at Twickenham on Saturday.
Steve Borthwick's side suffered a narrow two-point defeat by New Zealand, before conceding an injury-time winning try to Australia on Saturday.
England have now lost each of their last four Test matches, their longest such run since losing five straight games in 2018, but Esterhuizen's former Harlequins team-mate Marcus Smith has been impressive for the Red Roses.
"It's a great space, I obviously love to play there," Esterhuizen added. "It will be great to be running at Marcus, not run off him.
"It's going to be a great match, England have played well in the last few games, it's unfortunate that it hasn't been the results that they want. I think it's going to be a big one."
The Springboks have won three of their last four matches against England (L1), including each of their last two. Three of the last five games between England and South Africa have been decided by single-point margins.
Armstrong returns to Scotland squad, Morgan and Adams withdraw
Scotland have confirmed that Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Stuart Armstrong has been recalled to Steve Clarke's ranks ahead of their upcoming Nations League fixtures.
The Scots face Croatia at Hampden Park on Friday before taking on Poland in Warsaw three days later in the hope of picking up points in their bid for League A survival.
This will be Armstrong's first appearance for his country since Euro 2024. He played for just 14 minutes in Scotland's loss to Hungary in their final group game of the tournament.
The 32-year-old's inclusion comes after the New York Red Bulls' Lewis Morgan and Torino's Che Adams pulled out, though Clarke confirmed he was happy with his forward options.
Morgan has impressed in the MLS this season, registering 20 goal involvements (13 goals, seven assists) in the regular season for Sandro Schwarz's side.
His 49 chances created is a total only bettered by John Tolkin (59) for the Red Bulls, while he also helped his side in their recent playoff series win over the Columbus Crew.
Adams missed Torino's 2-0 defeat to Juventus last Saturday with a thigh injury, but upon further assessment from the Serie A side, has been ruled out of international duty.
Scotland sit bottom of Group A1 after picking up one point from their first four games, which came in their last Nations League encounter with Portugal.
Clarke's side, however, are both on their longest ever winless run at home (six games – D3 L3) and longest run without a victory in competitive fixtures (10 games - D4 L6).
They could also level their longest overall streak without a win, set in 1998 (nine games – D3 L5 currently), if they fall to defeat on Friday.
Croatia, however, have never won away in Scotland (D2 L1), with this their first trip to Hampden Park since October 2013, losing 2-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
Ireland ready to respond after 'honest' New Zealand chat, says Hansen
Mack Hansen has backed Ireland to bounce back from their 23-13 defeat to New Zealand that saw their 19-game home winning streak come to an end.
The loss also saw Ireland tumble from atop the world rankings to third as the All Blacks repeated their World Cup quarter-final success from last year, and also marked New Zealand's first win on Irish soil since 2016.
Ireland had previously won 25 of their 26 home games under Andy Farrell, which was their longest run on home soil, with their latest defeat before last Friday coming against France in 2021 (13-15).
While questions have been asked of a team that have been beaten in three of their past five matches, Hansen was adamant that the mood is not dampened ahead of Friday’s visit of Argentina.
"People are always very eager to jump on you when you’re down. It’s like in South Africa, nobody gave them a hope after the first Test," said Hansen.
“And what happens? They come back and win it. That’s the best thing about this group. The outside noise is outside noise and nobody knows what goes on in here, how hard we work and how resilient we are.
"People can chat away. The people who know us know, unfortunately, it was one of those weeks [against New Zealand], but we’re ready to bounce back.”
Ireland's display was littered with errors against the All Blacks, which included 21 handling mistakes, 30 missed tackles and 13 penalties conceded at the Aviva Stadium.
But eradicating those mistakes could prove difficult when they face Argentina on Friday, who come into the encounter on the back of a 50-18 thrashing of Italy.
Ireland, however, have not lost to the Pumas since the 2015 World Cup quarter-final and have beaten them on the three subsequent occasions they have played in Dublin.
And Hansen is confident his team-mates can respond against Felipe Contepomi's side and continue their impressive run against Argentina.
“There weren’t really hard chats, just honest chats,” added Hansen on Monday's debrief.
"We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t good enough and also that it just wasn’t us.
"So this week we’re looking to right a lot of wrongs and no better place to do it then back in the Aviva in front of a home crowd."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
