Grant Gilchrist named Scotland captain for Canada Test in Edmonton
Thursday 7 June 2018 08:52, UK
Grant Gilchrist will captain Scotland against Canada as they kick off their summer tour in Edmonton on Saturday.
The second row takes over the leadership responsibilities from Stuart McInally, who suffered a calf injury before Gregor Townsend's squad left for North America.
Gilchrist, 27, was previously named Scotland captain by Vern Cotter having led the team on two Tests of their 2014 tour of the Americas and South Africa, but a broken arm forced him to miss the majority of the season.
Fraser Brown starts at hooker in place of McInally, while Jamie Ritchie and James Lang make their Scotland debuts.
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne and Ruaridh Jackson also have an opportunity to impress at half-back in the team's first meeting since a 19-17 Scottish win in Toronto four years ago.
Blair Kinghorn starts at full-back and Lewis Carmichael and Adam Hastings could make their international bows off the bench.
The match is the first of three Tests Scotland will play on their summer tour, with further meetings with the USA in Houston and Argentina in Resistencia coming on June 16 and 23.
Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Lee Jones, 13 Chris Harris, 12 James Lang, 11 Byron McGuigan, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne; 1 Allan Dell, 2 Fraser Brown, 3 Simon Berghan, 4 Ben Toolis, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 6 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 8 David Denton.
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Lewis Carmichael, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Ali Price, 22 Adam Hastings, 23 Mark Bennett.
