Scotland change four for World Cup clash with Australia
Sunday 18 October 2015 15:21, UK
Scotland boss Vern Cotter has made four changes to his team for Sunday's World Cup quarter-final with Australia.
There is one change to the backline with Pete Horne returning at inside centre in place of Matt Scott.
In the pack, the suspended duo of Ross Ford and Jonny Gray are replaced by Fraser Brown and Tim Swinson respectively, and in the back row Blair Cowan takes Ryan Wilson's place on the blindside.
The Scots have appealed against the decision to ban Ford and Gray for three weeks for a dangerous tackle against Samoa. But they only lodged the papers on Friday morning and are still waiting to be given a time slot for their hearing by World Rugby chiefs.
There is still a chance it could take place on Saturday but with no precedent for a complete reversal of a suspension Cotter has gone ahead and planned for their absence.
Glasgow hooker Kevin Bryce and Perpignan flanker Alasdair Strokosch come on to the bench to take the spaces vacated by Brown and Swinson.
Cotter said: "It's always nice to be part of the final eight of any qualifying competition, the guys are very excited about being here.
"We will go into this game with the belief that we can compete with and dominate a very strong Australian team, and move forward to the last four.
"They are a front-foot momentum team so defence will be key but also getting our hands on the ball and expressing ourselves as we like to."
Scotland announced on Friday night that they had called Edinburgh prop Rory Sutherland into the squad as an injury replacement for Ryan Grant.
Sutherland, 23, was due to line up for his side in their Guinness PRO12 clash with Ulster on Friday night but instead travelled to London to join up with Cotter's side.
Grant featured in the Pool B wins over Japan and the United States but suffered a hamstring injury in training this week that has ruled him out of the remainder of the World Cup.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Pete Horne, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 G Laidlaw, 1 Alasdair Dickinson, 2 Fraser Brown, 3 WP Nel, 4 Tim Swinson, 5 Richie Gray, 6 Blair Cowan, 7 John Hardie, 8 Dave Denton
Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Josh Strauss, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Richie Vernon, 23 Sean Lamont
