Finn Russell fit but Darcy Graham misses England clash
The Scotland pair suffered head injuries after colliding with each other in the Six Nations loss to Ireland.
Scotland co-captain Finn Russell has been passed fit for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup match with England but fellow back Darcy Graham misses out.
The key duo were doubts for the Guinness Six Nations showdown at Allianz Stadium after colliding with each other and being forced off with head injuries in the first half of the defeat by Ireland.
Bath stand-off Russell has been able to recover in time and pass the concussion protocols to be named at number 10.
But Graham, who came off worst in the clash between the pair and was taken to hospital as a precaution, has not been deemed fit enough for inclusion in the 23.
“They’ve both been training really well, they’ve gone through the right protocols and they’ve passed every stage,” head coach Gregor Townsend told Scottish Rugby. “Finn, we felt, was symptom-free much earlier and obviously didn’t have as much of a head knock as Darcy did.
“Darcy is progressing really well. He’s had no symptoms now for a few days. He’s on to the next stage of his training but we just felt this week was too early to do full contact so we’re giving him that extra week to recover.”
The Edinburgh wing has been replaced by Glasgow’s Kyle Rowe in the only change to Scotland’s backline from the side that lost 32-18 to the Irish.
There are two changes to the Scottish pack, with Edinburgh pair Pierre Schoeman and Jamie Ritchie taking over from Glasgow duo Rory Sutherland and Matt Fagerson in the front row and back row respectively.
Sutherland and Fagerson both drop to the bench where they are joined by fellow forwards Ewan Ashman, Will Hurd, Sam Skinner and Gregor Brown in a 6-2 split.
Glasgow duo Jamie Dobie and Stafford McDowall – who both played more than half of the Ireland game after coming on for Graham and Russell – are again the two replacement backs as Townsend’s side head to Twickenham bidding to win the Calcutta Cup for the fifth year in succession.
Scotland team to face England on Saturday: B Kinghorn (Toulouse), K Rowe (Glasgow), H Jones (Glasgow), T Jordan (Glasgow), D Van der Merwe (Edinburgh), F Russell (Bath), B White (Toulon); P Schoeman (Edinburgh), D Cherry (Edinburgh), Z Fagerson (Glasgow), J Gray (Bordeaux), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), R Darge (Glasgow), J Dempsey (Glasgow).
Replacements: E Ashman (Edinburgh), R Sutherland (Glasgow), W Hurd (Leicester), S Skinner (Edinburgh), G Brown (Glasgow), M Fagerson (Glasgow), J Dobie (Glasgow), S McDowall (Glasgow).
