Scotland coach Vern Cotter makes two late changes for USA World Cup clash

Scotland head coach Vern Cotter has been forced to make two late changes to his starting XV for Sunday’s World Cup match against the United States at Elland Road in Leeds.

John Hardie has suffered a head injury and will be replaced in the back row by Ryan Wilson, while Ross Ford has been promoted from the replacements' bench in place of Fraser Brown at hooker.

New Zealand-born openside flanker Hardie, who scored his first try for his adopted nation in Wednesday's 45-10 win over Japan, was ruled out after producing inconclusive results to a precautionary head injury assessment.

To accommodate Wilson's inclusion and retain cover for the forwards, the versatile Brown was handed the No 20 shirt as back-row replacement, with Ford now starting and Kevin Bryce called up to the bench. 

Cotter announced his original team on Friday and it featured 10 changes in the starting line-up, but only four amendments to the 23-man matchday squad as he sought continuity following the victory over Japan in the opening Pool B match at Gloucester.

Tim Visser and Alasdair Strokosch, who start at wing and flanker respectively, and replacements Tim Swinson (lock) and Duncan Weir (stand-off) have been drafted in by Cotter, while the entire bench from Kingsholm was initially promoted to the starting line-up to face the Eagles, who lost 25-16 to Samoa in their opening game.

Scrum-half Henry Pyrgos, who captained the Scots against Ireland and scored twice in the summer Tests, will lead the side as one of four changes to the starting backs.

He comes in to partner try-scoring stand-off Finn Russell, who made his debut against USA in last summer's 24-6 win in Houston.

The Glasgow Warriors duo begin a club connection that is continued by the introduction of centre Peter Horne alongside Mark Bennett, who scored twice against Japan.

The changes to the back division are completed by the introduction of Sean Maitland and Visser alongside full-back Stuart Hogg.

In the pack Ryan Grant and Jon Welsh make a straight swap for props Alasdair Dickinson and Willem Nel, with Ford now between the pair in the No 2 shirt.

Lock Richie Gray starts in place of brother Jonny - with Swinson taking the vacated place on the bench - and, in the back-row, Strokosch and No 8 Josh Strauss come in for Ryan Wilson and David Denton.

Cotter said: "We said from the start that we would need the whole group of 31 players for this campaign.

"We've known this schedule for a long time and have tried to keep continuity in selection, while also introducing fresh legs to what will be another very physical challenge this Sunday.

"I was pleased with both the commitment and composure against Japan, particularly towards the end of the game, however we are always working and looking for things on which to improve.

"Hopefully we'll see the result of that this Sunday in another very important Test match in our Pool."

Asked if the Scots were capable of qualifying for the quarter-finals as pool winners, the Kiwi added: "Oh we are getting ahead of ourselves once again. I respect our opponents too much to be predicting anything. We're fully focused on trying to put in a good performance in two days' time.

"We're not on the paddock yet. The game starts on Sunday and we need to be ready for that.

"The players need to be 100 per cent committed and play our best rugby. Then we'll see what happens after that."

The United States have recalled hooker Phil Thiel in the only change to their starting line-up.

Captain Chris Wyles has been moved to full-back after two games on the wing and Thiel replaces Zach Fenoglio, who started against Samoa.

Coach Mike Tolkin said: "Fenoglio's logged a lot of minutes as starter and Thiel is a little fresher. They are both very good and virtually even, so we thought this was a good time to get Phil in as a starter and have Zach add punch off the bench.

"We have the capability to do some dynamic things with ball in hand, with both power and pace.

"We'd like to be able to make this a more consistent, potent weapon. Scotland, like everyone, has weaknesses and we need to exploit them effectively with both of those tools."

Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Henry Pyrgos; 1 Ryan Grant, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Jon Welsh, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Ryan Wilson, 8 Josh Strauss.

Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Willem Nel, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 Fraser Brown, 21 Greig Laidlaw, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Matt Scott.

United States: 15 Chris Wyles (capt), 14 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 13 Seamus Kelly, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 Blaine Scully, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Mike Petri; 1 Eric Fry, 2 Phil Thiel, 3 Titi Lamositele, 4 Hayden Smith, 5 Greg Peterson, 6 Al McFarland, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 8 Samu Manoa.

Replacements: 16 Zach Fenoglio, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Cameron Dolan, 20 John Quill, 21 Danny Barrett, 22 Shalom Suniula, 23 Folau Niua.