2018 Summer Series - Scotland vs USA

Townsend: Warrior-Heavy Scotland Must Be Wary Of USA

Townsend: Warrior-Heavy Scotland Must Be Wary Of USA

Scotland has named its lineup to face the USA in Houston

Jun 13, 2018 by Alex Goff
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Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has rung the changes for his team as he named his lineup to face the USA on Saturday at 8 PM CT at the BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.

Watch USA vs. Scotland LIVE on FloRugby

Saturday, June 16 | 8 PM CDT

Glasgow Warriors fullback Stuart Hogg, certainly one of the very best at his position in the world, will captain the team, which featured 12 changes from the squad that beat Canada 48-10 this past Saturday.

Glasgow flanker Matt Fagerson and another Warriors player, scrumhalf George Horne, will make their Scotland debuts against the Eagles.

It's no surprise to see so many Warriors join the lineup, as Townsend was waiting for those players to be able to get a bit more rest.

“We always planned to play as much of the squad as possible on this tour, and we also deliberately picked more Edinburgh players in the first game because their season finished earlier," Townsend said. “Now we welcome most of the Glasgow Warriors contingent into the team. On top of that there are seven players making their first starts for the country, which is really exciting, and we are looking forward to them going out and grabbing this opportunity."

Townsend said the Eagles are not a team to be overlooked, pointing out that they have won their last six games and put 60 points on two World Cup-bound opponents (Uruguay and Russia). 

“You can see in the way they attack and defend that they are well coached, added to which there are some exceptional individuals that offer running threats throughout their side, so this will be a real test for us on Saturday,” Townsend said.

The USA and Scotland have played each other six times (although one matchup featured a "ScotlandXV" squad but the USA awarded caps for that game). Scotland has won all six, including a 39-16 victory in the 2015 Rugby World Cup in which the USA was leading at halftime.



The Eagles and Scotland have met in Houston before, a 24-6 victory for the Scots in 2014 and a game where the USA scrum struggled to gain a foothold. Only five USA players who played in that game might play Saturday. Only two Scotland players—Hogg and substitute Grant Gilchrist—were in that 2014 game.

Scotland Lineup

PosPlayerClubCaps
1Jamie BhattiGlasgow Warriors9
2George TurnerGlasgow Warriors3
3Zander FergusonGlasgow Warriors16
4Lewis CarmichaelEdinburgh1
5Ben ToolsEdinburgh10
6Tim SwinsonGlasgow Warriors36
7Luke HamiltonUnattached2
8Matt FagersonGlasgow Warriors0
9George HorneGlasgow Warriors0
10Adam HastingsGlasgow Warriors1
11Byron McGuiganSale Sharks4
12Pete HorneGlasgow Warriors33
13Nick GriggGlasgow Warriors4
14Blair KinghornEdinburgh3
15Stuart HoggGlasgow Warriors60





Reserves

16Fraser BrownGlasgow Warriors32
17Allan DellEdinburgh11
18Murray McCallumEdinburgh2
19Grant GilchristEdinburgh23
20David DentonLeicester Tigers40
21Sam Hidalgo-ClyneScarlets10
22Mark BennettEdinburgh21
23Dougie FifeEdinburgh6

Join PRO to watch the USA vs. Scotland live and on-demand this Saturday at 8 PM CDT.