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.