Wednesday 21 August 2019 12:49, UK
Scarlets No 8 Blade Thomson will make Test debut for Scotland on Saturday against France at Murrayfield, in one of 14 changes from last week’s defeat to Les Bleus in Nice.
Full-back Stuart Hogg is the only player retained by head coach Gregor Townsend from last weekend's heavy 32-3 loss to the French.
Townsend has opted to recall several experienced players, with scrum-half Greig Laidlaw selected to captain the team, and stand-off Finn Russell and wings Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour also coming in.
Glasgow Warriors lock Scott Cummings has been handed a start after coming off the bench at Allianz Riviera last weekend for his first international appearance.
Townsend told scottishrugby.org: "Our first outing of the season was a disappointment and not reflective of the hard work our players have put in over the past two months.
"Our first outing of the season was a disappointment and not reflective of the hard work our players have put in over the past two months"
"France are a very dangerous side if you give them space and quick ball to play, which is what we allowed to happen on too many occasions last week. Our focus all week has been to remedy this and also create much more from our attacking game.
"It was a stark reminder of how tough things can be at international level if our standards slip.
"We expect our players to show a much truer picture of themselves this Saturday."
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Sean Maitland; 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw; 1 Gordon Reid, 2 George Turner, 3 Willem Nel; 4 Scott Cummings, 5 Sam Skinner; 6 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Blade Thomson
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 John Barclay, 21 George Horne, 22 Rory Hutchinson, 23 Blair Kinghorn
