SCOTLAND LOCK JONNY Gray will make his first Test appearance for nearly two years after being named in the starting team for Saturdayโs Six Nations opener at home to Italy.
The 30-year-old missed the 2023 World Cup with a knee injury and declined a call-up for the November international series after returning to action at the start of this season with French club Bordeaux-Begles.
Edinburgh hooker Dave Cherry is also in line for his first Test since the World Cup after coach Gregor Townsend surprisingly selected him ahead of the benched Ewan Ashman.
Stafford McDowall replaces injured captain Sione Tuipulotu at inside centre, while record try-scorer Duhan van der Merwe has been passed fit following an ankle problem.
Your Scotland team to kick off @SixNationsRugby against Italy at Scottish Gas Murrayfield ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ
โ Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) January 30, 2025
Read more โก๏ธ https://t.co/KPry9XuMhM pic.twitter.com/d32ZnrMgf1
Scotland playmaker Finn Russell and flanker Rory Darge are the co-captains of the team.
Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada named Perpignanโs Tommaso Allan at full-back, allowing Toulouse flier Ange Capuozzo to move to the wing.
Italyโs record points-scorer in the Six Nations, Allan stepped away from the Italy side after their narrow 27-24 defeat by England in last seasonโs tournament, citing his mental and physical well-being.
Allan, whose uncle John Allan played nine Tests for Scotland in the 1990s, did not return until November against Argentina, when he came on as a substitute for the injured Capuozzo.
Injured himself, he then had to sit out the tests against Georgia and New Zealand.
He has featured in 12 matches for Perpignan this season and will be bidding to add to his Italian record 165 points in the Six Nations when he runs out at Murrayfield.
Scotland (15-1):
Blair Kinghorn; Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Stafford McDowall, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell (co-capt), Ben White; Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge (co-capt), Jamie Ritchie; Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray; Zander Fageron, Dave Cherry, Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Gregor Brown, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe
Italy (15-1)
Tommaso Allan; Ange Capuozzo, Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo; Michele Lamaro (capt), Lorenzo Cannone, Sebastian Negri; Federico Ruzza, Dino Lamb; Simone Ferrari, Giacomo Nicotera, Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Luca Rizzoli, Marco Riccioni, Niccolo Cannone, Manuel Zuliani, Ross Vintcent, Alessandro Garbisi, Simone Gesi
Great football from Liverpool today. Keep that up and might be in with a shout for top 4!
No chance Tom. Far too inconsistent and a very mediocre team if Suarez isnโt firing โฆ
Liverpool in the top 4? lol.
Thanks John for sharing your in depth views and knowledge of teams that arenโt Man Utd.
Neil I think you will find that he only got 1 of the 5 today.
Unrealistic chance of 4th, yes, but a spread of five scorers today shows that maybe Suarez doesnโt have to fire alone anymore.
she is a young arty farty film director from the states,is she in the news today
Stephen sure u commented on the right article ??
Think he was referring to the post at 16.06. Villa urgently need a result in the late kick off, 2nd bottom as things stand.
Thanks Stephen. Nah, not in the news today, think I just saw about seven tweets mentioning her in my timeline.
She won a couple of Golden Globes last weekend.