Van der Walt to make Scotland debut

Jaco van der Walt is set to make his Scotland debut after being named in the starting lineup to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

Van der Walt recently qualified for selection on the residency rule, having been in Scotland with Edinburgh since 2017.

The 26-year-old has been named as the starting flyhalf for Saturday’s Autumn Nations Cup Test match after linking up with the Scotland squad this week.

He is joined in the starting lineup by fellow South African Duhan van der Merwe, who plays on the left wing, while props Oli Kebble and WP Nel have been selected on the bench.

Meanwhile, captain Stuart Hogg is in line to win his 80th Scotland Test cap, moving him into seventh position on the list of Scotland internationals.

Winger Sean Maitland will win his 50th cap from the bench should he be called upon to feature.

‘We have been impressed with Jaco over the time he has trained with us and we’re excited to see him take the next step into international Test-match rugby,’ Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said. ‘It will be a tough challenge over in Ireland, given the quality of our opposition and how they will be looking to end 2020 on a positive note.

‘We’ve been together for the past two months and from a coaching perspective it has been a real joy seeing the group come together and work so hard to improve both individually and collectively. We are looking forward to facing Ireland in what will be an opportunity to continue our progress away from home once again.’

Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Rory Sutherland.
Subs: 16 Stuart McInally, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 WP Nel, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Blair Cowan, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Sean Maitland.